ME

Count The Cost

When I first started following Jesus 16 years ago this month, a lot of things changed quickly. I had been used to partying with any group of people I could find... people in the factory I worked at, at the school I went to, and friends from my hometown. 

Every weekend we would try to find out what kind of stupidity we could get in.

And at work, almost all of us cussed like sailors, and I went right along with that too.

You see, when you work night shift in a car factory with a workforce of 90% dudes, you talk about as much stupid stuff as you can imagine so you can stay awake and keep from going insane. 

But all that party life and those dirty words were just a cover in my life for a messed-up and depressed soul.

I think that’s true with many who are bound by sin.

Then I met Jesus and He set me free.

But all those friends kept calling to go the club, the Frat party, and the bar. 

But I was living for Jesus now, so I told those people no. Over and over and over again.

Many of those friends respected my faith in Jesus, but didn’t understand why I wouldn’t go and do the things I used to.

Here’s why:

“If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has gone, and the new has come.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

Jesus made me brand new and the down, depressed guy that would try to drown his sorrows by drinking and pretend like all life was a party, the guy who was trying to put on a tough persona, was dead.

I was made new and Jesus gave me a new name: child of God.

I made a decision to live fully and stand up for Jesus when most around me wanted nothing to do with Christ.

I found the peace that I had been searching for.

BUT... I had to give up hanging out with all those people, besides work and playing basketball.

But even in those environments, I lived and reacted differently. No more cussing or raunchy jokes. No more getting insanely mad ready to take someone’s head off on the basketball court. 

I gave up those things and some of those friends (which was hard for me)…

but I found SO MUCH MORE in Jesus.

WE

We’ve all had moments in our lives when doing the right thing wasn’t the easy thing.

Sometimes we choose the hard and right path, and others times we back away from it.

Let’s take a look at one man who chose the right thing in the midst of one of the most grueling days in history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ergGhuEwYhg&feature=youtu.be

Harry Read probably didn’t feel like jumping into a literal war zone with bombs dropping all around. There was a good chance he would die or become wounded once he jumped out of that plane.

But he chose to do it anyway because it was the right thing to do for the freedom of his country and the world.

So what do we do in those moments?

No, we haven’t faced anything as intense as D-day, but we do face situations when we don’t feel like doing the right thing because the other option seems so much easier.

Cheating on a test is easier than studying. But it’s wrong.

Lying to a parent is sometimes easier than fessing up to the dumb thing we did. Still wrong.

Making fun of someone because others are doing it is easy to do. But it’s still wrong.

And here’s the thing: every time we choose the wrong thing because it’s easy, it ends up being harder on us in the end.

We get caught cheating and get an “F” or we don’t learn what we should we didn’t study.

Mom and Dad find out we’re lying and we get in a TON of trouble. Or we develop a habit of lying that’s so bad people can never trust us.

We find out the person we made fun of is now struggling with depression because of our actions.

Our world tells us constantly to do the easy thing over the right thing. But that’s never what Jesus tells us.

GOD

So let’s see what Jesus has to say