On the outskirts of a...
Illustration
On the outskirts of a nearby town is an eyesore. Apartments standing as empty as Mother Hubbard's fabled cupboard. Windows broken by vandals. Doors hanging on rusty hinges. Paint peeling from skeleton-framed interiors devoid of plaster. An apartment complex which was not completed. A squib in the newspaper reporting cost estimates for this housing project rose too sharply, forcing the owners into bankruptcy.
When we fail to count the cost, we fail. Making life's major decisions is a difficult and crucial crossroad in anyone's travel itinerary through life. Like the unwise squirrel in Aesop's classic fable, we can laze ourselves in the sun until winter comes and finds our cupboard bare.
Like the unwise king in Christ's parable, resembling the Saxon king, Ethelered the Unready, we can fail to prepare our souls for doing battle with the minions of evil. Like the unwise builder, we can begin the Christian life but fail to grow in Christ daily. Christ is made the sure foundation, as the hymn expresses it, but we must build and grow on that foundation. Such growth and such commitment demands we recognize what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called "costly discipleship." Bonhoeffer says, "It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives ... the only true life ... it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner ... it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son ..."1
Have you or your people counted the cost of following Christ?
1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan co., 1972), pp. 47-48.
When we fail to count the cost, we fail. Making life's major decisions is a difficult and crucial crossroad in anyone's travel itinerary through life. Like the unwise squirrel in Aesop's classic fable, we can laze ourselves in the sun until winter comes and finds our cupboard bare.
Like the unwise king in Christ's parable, resembling the Saxon king, Ethelered the Unready, we can fail to prepare our souls for doing battle with the minions of evil. Like the unwise builder, we can begin the Christian life but fail to grow in Christ daily. Christ is made the sure foundation, as the hymn expresses it, but we must build and grow on that foundation. Such growth and such commitment demands we recognize what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called "costly discipleship." Bonhoeffer says, "It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives ... the only true life ... it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner ... it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son ..."1
Have you or your people counted the cost of following Christ?
1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan co., 1972), pp. 47-48.
