Some things to clear up

I'm not quite sure why I'm starting this. I think it's something in between me wanting to get better at writing, me thinking that my thoughts are good enough and have enough value/wisdom/whatever to be written somewhere, and writing being a good outlet and tool for... me, I guess.

It's really easy to go through life without really thinking about what we're doing. A lot of thought often goes into the past or the future, depending on what type of person you are. I think our thoughts can often lend to regrets of the past or high hopes for the future; we hope to make changes tomorrow because of the mistakes that we made yesterday. Personally, regret is still something that I think I struggle with, and somewhat contributed to the name of the blog. Before we launch into anything, big things, I think it's something we all should really be doing.

In particular, it seems that many people don't really count the cost of following Christ. Earlier this semester I was at an outreach event hosted by another fellowship, and the speaker's message was titled, "Why I don't want to be a Christian." And seemingly rightly so. I think people come to Christ expecting things in return, wanted to be rewarded for our "holiness" or our effort to follow God's Word. But there are plenty of reasons not to be a Christian. A lot of them are even in the Bible. We're going to get persecuted, the world is going to hate us, we might have to leave home, leave mothers and fathers, friends and loved ones, we might lose our life. In fact, we're supposed to consider our lives lost for the sake of Jesus Christ; anyone who wants to be great among us must be a servant to all. A servant to all... is pretty extreme. Crazy talk.

Yet there are so many Christians who claim to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, but do not embrace His teachings. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He explained that it was to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength," and that the second was to "love your neighbor as yourself." It elsewhere says that "Greater love has known no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13).

So are we really doing this? Is anyone? I'm certainly not. I have not laid down my life for God, nor my friends, nor my neighbors... I hardly know the full cost of being Jesus' disciple. But I say that I am.

C.S. Lewis said, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." And I full-heartedly agree. It is, in its essence, the difference between life and death. And if it is life, if it is truth, we should be desperately chasing God with everything that we've got. No matter what the cost.

And though it would seem that the cost might not matter in light of these two extreme possibilities, I think it does. Because a lot of times, in order for us to give "everything" to God, we must give them piece by piece. He doesn't rush us, because love is patient. Understanding what we're giving up (what the cost is) also gives insight into what we're getting, and what we're giving for. Just like anything else, the value or worth of anything can be measured by what we've had to give to gain it. And we're supposed to give our lives for Christ, whatever that means. Must be worth a lot.

EDIT:

I think what is better to think about is not particularly the cost of following Jesus, (since the word alludes to various things that might be falsely implied), but rather what it means, looks like, feels like, to follow Him. So this blog is about that journey of loving God more and more. There we go.