"For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and
counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it."
- Luke 14:28
I always remind myself when I read this particular verse of scripture, how important it is to finish whatever it is we start. So many people begin a project with great enthusiasm, but somewhere along the way they falter in their pursuit because the task becomes more than they expected. This is why Jesus taught his disciples that they were to first sit down and count the cost.
There is a cost to carrying out the will of God in your life. Sometimes you think you can calculate what it is going to take, but you can never really know the full price you may have to pay. When Jesus said you have to sit down first and count the cost, I don't think he was saying we have to know everything about what we are going to face when it comes to doing God's will. I think he was simply pointing out that we have to know within ourselves that whatever comes we are determined to maintain our resolve to finish what we started.
I recently read a report that stated that approximately 1700 ministers leave the ministry each month and that somewhere around 7,000 churches close their doors each year. That is staggering statistics! And while I am sure there is a multitude of reasons that lie behind these numbers, what appears so obvious to me is that somewhere someone simply failed to count the cost!
Jesus never said the task to do the will of God was going to be an easy one. What he did tell us was that if we expect to be worth our weight in salt we have to learn how to bear up under anything and everything that comes with a determination that we will never take our eyes off Him! Hebrews chapter twelve says, "Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Heb. 12:1-3). Somehow Jesus found within himself the means of looking beyond his own suffering and took hold of the joy at finishing his race.
Paul captured this same sentiment when he said, "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:22-24). In both passages, we find the words "joy" and "finish." If there is anything that should speak to our hearts concerning what it takes in counting the cost it is learning how to maintain our joy until we finish what we started.
The Bible is very clear in teaching us that the "joy of the Lord is our strength" (Neh. 8:10). I would venture to say that the biggest reason people stop pursuing the very thing they set out to accomplish is they lost their strength of endurance because they stop enjoying the journey. If somehow you have found yourself getting weary in well doing remember God's grace is your sufficiency. Keep your eyes on him, and never lose sight of why you are doing what you are doing in the first place. And never forget what Mary said to those servants at the wedding of Cana: "Whatever he saith unto you, do it!"