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… Luke 14:28
We sang a beautiful song at church a few weeks ago that had the following lines:
Your name is like honey on my lips,
Your Spirit’s like water to my soul,
Your Word is a lamp unto my feet,
Jesus I love you
When I first heard this song, I thought, “Yes! Jesus is wonderful, and these are some of the benefits of following Him that the Bible speaks of, and I just love that Jesus feeds me with sweetness, wraps me in a gentle waterfall, and illuminates my world so I can see light!
These thoughts are not inaccurate, but it occurred to me they may also not be the full picture of why these things are true. They are certainly some of the positive benefits of following Jesus, but what about the uncomfortable parts of these truths? For example:
Ezekiel was asked to eat a scroll, and it was in his mouth like honey in sweetness. (Ezekiel 3:3) And what was his exchange for that sweet honey on his lips? He was made a prophet to proclaim the word of the Lord to the rebellious and wicked people of Israel and he went out in bitterness to do a hard job that didn’t produce the mass repentance and turning of hearts back to the Lord at great personal sacrifice. There is a cost.
A little water is nourishing and gentle; a massive quantity floods an entire world killing everything and everyone in it; a calm ocean wave laps against our feet and cools them; a tidal wave is destructive, flushing away homes and industry. Do we get to choose how God commands the winds and the waves? They obey Him. When we open the door to Jesus, He gets to choose how we are washed by the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26).
A lamp lights the way for feet to walk so that a person may not stumble; so does a giant spotlight trained upon a criminal to freeze him in his tracks when he is doing evil. Sometimes we are lit up so that our evil ways and wickedness can be exposed. God is the Father of lights, and He shows no partiality (James 1:17). How we perceive the light can be indicative of what the light threatens to reveal to the world. God makes His sun shine on the just and unjust alike, just like His rain (Matthew 5:45).
When we accept the beautiful and comforting parts of Jesus, it is important for us to weigh the cost; there is always more to God that we see or know when we make ourselves bondservants of Christ and at times it may feel more like oysters than ice cream. He is still worth it.