We all need to see that besides what it cost Jesus to bring you to Himself, there is what it will cost you to see that what He has given you by redemption is fully developed and used to the optimum capacity. You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing but only those ones you lay hold on will find expression in your life.
In this short note I want to share with you how you can lay hold on anything you desire from what Christ has provided. To see glory envelope your life as God has intended it should be, there is your role to play to cooperate with God in bringing about everything He is seeking to unfold in your life.
Jesus often used natural examples to relay heavenly principles because people generally think spiritual things are spooky. To show that it's not as spooky as we sometimes may think, I'll attempt to use an illustration we all can relate with to drive home what I'm saying.
Let's take this example. To earn a degree in school, say an engineering degree, you had to pay some sacrifices.
While others your age were busy playing, loafing around and watching TV all day long, you were attending classes, solving problematic calculations, performing practicals and trying to master certain things. You applied yourself to the demands of that engineering degree you desired. You didn't get it without taking responsibility.
To come out tops in your class, it cost you something. You had to invest time practising the content of your syllabus and what you were taught in class. Every excellent student is deliberate about his/her academic success. They don't just believe they can come out tops, they take conscious steps. By God's grace, some of us been there. Sometimes the more the price one is willing and careful to pay, the more outstanding they become.
There are things the best students do to be where they are. Some have done these things for so long that to them these things no longer appear special because they have become like second nature. However, their being very used to those things (they practice which stands them out from the rest) does not eliminate the fact that they pay their dues.
No success is by accident and no accident is a success. There's always a deliberate price. It always comes at a cost. You can call it a different name but it's still a cost you must settle. The one who realizes that and goes all out paying the required price will definitely have success to show for it.
Generally speaking, sellers in the market do not discriminate between people. If you have what it costs, if you're ready to pay the price they have set for the commodity, the person selling is more than ready to let you have it. The seller wants to sell, he's not interested in your height, age, village, local government area of origin, grand father's name or complexion. It's the same way with success. Success does not respect your intonation, complexion or background; it's not a respecter of persons.
In Luke 14:28 our Lord Jesus spoke about counting the cost before setting out to erect a tower. In effect He was saying that you've got to come to terms with the cost of the project before you commence; you've got to be ready to pay the price required, otherwise you just might as well not bother. Did He not know about grace? He certainly did more than we'll ever do in our lifetime. But you see, to build anything in this life there is a price you must be ready to pay.
To erect anything of value, renown and reference, there is a price you must pay. For every tower there is a cost. It will cost you something(s); it will demand certain things from you. It is strong self deception to convince yourself that the tower will supernaturally appear without you incurring any cost.
Grace does not do things that way. Grace has rules by which it functions and the rules of grace don't allow such things to happen. The person who does not count the cost and apply himself to paying the price but keeps claiming he's expecting the tower to happen "by grace" will inevitably have disgrace. Grace teaches us to wake up to the price we have to pay. Grace teaches us to cost the project and give it what it demands of us. Grace beckons on us to take responsibility.
Let's consider what building a tower might cost. Labourers would have to be paid. The man drawing the plan will be paid. The person doing the surveying will be paid. The blocks will cost money. The other materials will cost some money. There will be other costs. To ignore all these and say nothing will be spent by you is to delude yourself. This is what we do many times when we don't consciously lay out and apply ourselves to the demands of the endeavours we're engaged in.
Grace can help you with making more than sufficient resources available to cover the expenses you have to take care of but grace will not eliminate the cost and somehow throw the tower down from the sky. As a matter of principle, grace does not and will never do such things.
1 Cor. 1:9 says we've been invited to participate in a partnership with Christ. Paul also said we're co-labourers together with Christ. In simple English that means there is what He does and there is what we do. You should know that God takes pleasure in working with us. What grace means is that He will empower us and help us as we go about doing what we ought to do (Isaiah 41:10). Grace does not eliminate our responsibility.
Another example is this, God gave us believers the responsibility of the great commission - spreading the gospel to all parts of the world. Now, taking the gospel to the lost is our God-given assignment. He will never do what He asked us to do. The most He'll do is to supply us help as we go about getting it done. Until man does it, it will not be done. If everything were up to God, many things won't take as long as they do.
Therefore, to carry out the assignment of the great commission there is a cost we must be ready to take up otherwise, what has to be done may never be done by us. We must find out what and what getting the task accomplished demands from us and then apply ourselves unreservedly to seeing that the job is done.
If you apply this same principle we've discussed here to any area of endeavor, you should successfully erect any tower you so desire, be it in your finances, your home, ministry, academics, your career, your profession, business, politics etc. Our Father is a God of principles. His principles are laws that work for anyone who engages them.
Sit down and count the cost. That is, find out what that thing requires of you; find out the price it's demanding you to pay and carefully begin to take responsibility in that regard.
- Emmanuel Ogbonnaya
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