What cost shall it take,
Oh, Lord
to stand where you have called
vast, expansive-
sweltering unknown
to guide me with a pillar-
a cross of mounted joy
to bring broken hearts
burdens and remnants
of hushed pasts and presents
and futures
to your feet
the dirty to be
washed
the shattered to be
pieced
and whole again
me-
that is me, Oh,
Lord
me-
fallen and displaced
filled with pits and hallows
dare not send me out
for the world deserves a wretch
a storm drain that is
me-
my lips and tongue
my hands and feet
Lord!
you want them not
not for the pillar of grace and glory
that is you
and still You beckon
reach out with open hands
take hold and walk along
feeding my bones,
words to speak
a task for which I stop
for nothing
a cost
dare I say
beyond boarders
Deep-rooted in my college town, I am in some ways immune to the ongoing football season hype. Our team has been on a roll this season and the atmosphere around campus is undeniably charged with excitement. And now, well into the season, it never ceases to amaze just how much people involve football into their lives.
Don't get me wrong, I was blessed to be born and raised on southern time and by golly, you better believe that I grew up watching, knowing, loving and breathing- in football whenever fall rolled around each year. But, living amongst the college atmosphere first hand, I am amazed at the cost by which students would pay and the things students would do for one football ticket.
With a nationally ranked football team the hype is overwhelming. Students have been camped out for weeks. Yes, you read that right, weeks. Students have set up tents and started Google documents to make sure all shifts are filled just for a ticket to the big game this weekend. And this, friends, is the second game where students were camped out around the stadium. All. The. Way. Around. Beyond camping, I was chatting with a good friend the other day who casually shared with me that because he was unable to get a ticket to this weekend's game, he was going to sneak into the game.
" ___ from my math class did it for the Georgia game and he said it was no trouble at all."
Wait a minute. He is willing to risk embarrassment and possibly being arrest just for the sake of a football game? I couldn't believe my ears. Is a football game really worth the cost?
Hey, maybe to you it is. Maybe football is that important to you. But, hear me out for a second...
That football game lasts 3-3.5 hours-tops. That's it.
I'm not here pointing fingers, I'm guilty, too. I am right there with you, worried about how to get tickets, when to get tickets, planning my day around going to get the tickets. I get it! However, Jesus has shown me something else. It's really important, listen up.
Jesus showed me that the cost, effort and time I put into a football game greatly over shadows the cost, effort and time I put into following Him. He showed me that more than likely, I am more willing to risk being embarrassed for trying to sneak into a football game than I am about trying to share the gospel with someone I feel Jesus has called me to share with. Ultimately, I had to examine my heart with this question:
At what cost am I willing to follow Jesus?
I encourage you to think about this. If you're like me, you're willing to do a lot more for this world and the people and things in it than you are for the man who died on a cross, naked, bleeding, publicly humiliated to save you. When it comes to Jesus we shrink back. We don't share when we should. We agree when we shouldn't. And we miss out on all God has for us because we would rather get into a football game than get closer to our Savior.
Here's something to help. It's simple, easy and quick. Continue to ask yourself that question... but most importantly remember at what Jesus did for you. If He can be beaten and crucified for you, what can you do for Him? Because the reward you will receive doesn't just last 3-3.5 hours.....
it lasts forever.
" I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service." 1 Timothy 1:12
My words begin and end at the mouth of Christ
