| “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply [perhaps], after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:28-30). |
| In the area where I used to live, there was a man who began to build a big house. It was so large that it even had an indoor swimming pool. But he ran out of money, and was not able to finish it. Other people knew who he was, and often made fun of him, just as our verses say. He wanted that big house, but he had not calculated the cost, and eventually someone else bought it and finished it. |
| This is a good lesson for us in our Christian life. When we are first saved, we are often very ready to follow the Lord Jesus, and to live for Him in this world. But then we find out that there is a cost involved in having regular Bible reading, prayer, and Christian fellowship in our lives. There is also a cost involved in giving up the things of this world, in order to follow the Lord. Sometimes we are not ready to pay that cost, and then we do not finish well in our Christian life. I have known more than one Christian who started out well, and then decided that it was too hard to be a Christian in this world. They stopped pleasing the Lord, and just drifted along with the world. After a while, if you did not know that they were believers in the Lord Jesus, you would never guess from watching them, for they acted pretty much like worldly people. |
| In the history of this world, building has been very important. People have built homes in which to live, but have also built fortifications so that they could defend what they had built. So it is in our Christian life. Jude tells us that we must be diligent in “building up yourselves on your most holy faith” (Jude, v. 20), and this means spending time reading the Word of God, praying, and getting together with other Christians for fellowship. This will take time and energy, but we must be willing to take the time to do it. Then we will be able, with the Lord’s help, not only to begin our Christian life, but to finish it well. |
