******This will be the last post till 9/2******

A certain group of teens wanted to “raise awareness” about the plight of the homeless. They decided that for a week they would live like homeless people live. However, the activity was postponed…due to weather! Isn’t that ironic? They said they wanted to live like the homeless, but don’t the homeless get rained on when it rains?

Most of us are real bargain hunters, aren’t we? Once, after a run-in a lady literally had with me that totaled my beautiful 1992 Dodge Dakota, that I bought for an amazingly low price, I had to spend State Farm’s money to buy a replacement vehicle. I had pretty big expectations. I wanted a pick-up truck, only 4 or 6 cylinders, with good gas mileage, seating for five, and all for the piddling amount allotted me. Eventually, I revised my expectations. I wanted good value, but I was also cost-conscious.

As gas prices go up, with all our economic uncertainties, we all do well to think about how much things cost. As good stewards of our finances, we never want to be wasteful (cf. Luke 16:1). In the spiritual realm, we are faced with a price to pay in order to become a Christian, and then to live the Christian life. Luke records Jesus’ teaching about this in Luke 14:26-35. He says, in essence, that when it comes to following Him there is a cost in terms of our earthly relationships (26), personal sacrifices (27), moral and spiritual endurance (28-32), financial resources (33), and spiritual choices and example (34-35).

You cannot become a Christian until you count the cost and make the decision to obey the Lord. So many choose family, comfort, compromise, material things, or conformation over the One who gave everything for them. In what shape is your spiritual life? One way to measure that is by asking, “What does it cost you?”

–Neal Pollard