It's just like buying a house. You want to move out of a cramp apartment but you haven't saved up enough money yet, so you wait. And to get a good fixed or adjustable mortgage rate, you know that you have to have a good credit to debt ratio.
You've calculated that the amount of money that you pay for rent is more than what you would pay in a monthly mortgage.
Are you credit worthy?
You pay down your debt and you cut spending. You begin to sacrifice.
You check with a legitimate and trusted accountant. You weigh all of your options. Sort of like a pre approval process BEFORE you go to the bank. You want to be able to handle the long term costs.
You never buy a house with no money down. Your monthly mortgage payments might be beyond your normal paycheck. It's a perfect foreclosure trap unless you've done your due diligence.
As soon as you get a sizable down payment and a good mortgage rate, as well as emergency savings to handle anything like additional or emergency repairs, upkeep, maintenance, home insurance, appliances, additional furniture, and other necessities.
Closing costs.
Job commuting. Car wear and tear. Public transportation. HOA fees. Property taxes. Water bill. Oil or propane bill to heat the home, HVAC or central heating and cooling, cook the food, and hot water. Snow thrower if you live in the north. Lawn mower. Neighborhood. Crime. Neighbors. Grocery stores, shopping malls. Gas prices for you car.
You've found your new house so you begin to negotiate a lower price than what's offered. Deal made. You hire an independent home inspector before you sign the contract, and you retain a trusted attorney.
Finally, you're ready to "cross the line."
Or like buying a car.
You never pay sticker price. You negotiate. You hire a car maintenance person.
You follow almost the same process.
You count the cost before you "cross the line."
It's the same thing in marriage. But the bedroom BEFORE the marriage is sin and it's never a good place to see if the marriage will work.
You count the cost before you "cross the line."
As a sinner that's about to become a believer in Christ, the Lord allows you to understand the terms of what you're getting into.
Luke 14:25-33 (NKJV)
"Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?
Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.
So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."
Some sinners think that making a "decision" to become a Christian is easy and what the Lord offers us is a great deal. However, sinners were never told what they have to do to be a disciple of Christ.
SOME preachers lie to sinners and tell them "You don't have to give up anything, just come as you are, and accept Christ. He has a plan for your life." While it's true that the Lord has a plan for your life, it's not the reason to be saved from His wrath. The plan (Ephesians 2:10) starts AFTER you repent and place faith on Christ alone.
There's nothing in the Word that tells you that you don't have to give up anything. God "commands men everywhere to repent."
It's called "reconciliation" which means "exchange." We give Him our life of sin and He gives us eternal life, which brings us back into the favor of God.
And yes, there's Scripture in John and Colossians that we are to "receive the Lord."
However, it's by repentance and placing faith on Christ that we receive the Lord.
Then you have to separate yourself from the sins that you've loved to practice.
The partying. The smoking weed. Snorting cocaine. Shooting heroine. The methamphetamines. The bar. The alcohol and glass shots. The prostitutes. The whores. The one night stands or sexting. The hook ups on the Internet.
We do have true believers that repented of sin and placed faith on Christ alone. But what happens is that they never cross the line into hardcore discipleship because they see that the further you go, the more that it will cost you.
But for the ones that have entered the narrow gate (see Matthew 7:13-14)....
Your family and friends observe that you're not the same anymore. You're not the "life of the party." You don't drink or smoke anymore. You don't go to the bar. Your girl friend want to go to bed to fornicate or commit adultery like before but you want to talk about Jesus.
You've counted the cost of discipleship and you get real serious about pleasing the Lord.
Finally, you know what you need to do. You need to move from the wayside, stony, and thorny ground, and get on the good ground to produce thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold (see Luke 8:11-15).
Luke 9:57-62 (NKJV)
"Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
As the song says "I won't go back, can't go back to the way it used to be. There's nothing to go back to."
Cross the line and don't look back because the Lord will cross the line with you.
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