Many new Christians come to Jesus without fully understanding that this decision will be the costliest one that they will ever have to make in life. And that it why it is so important that new believers start reading the Bible daily, find and attend a solid biblically based church regularly, and find a few godly mature men and women who can mentor them. With the world constantly telling us that we are foolish for following Christ, and with Satan tempting us daily to sin and causing us to question our new faith, it is critical that we understand what following Christ entails. Sound doctrine is critical if we are, as Christians, to live a productive and joy filled life.
I think John MacArthur’s advice on what the Christian life is all about is something all new converts to Christianity should take to heart. His sage advice states: “The Christian life is not adding Jesus to one’s own way of life but renouncing that personal way of life for His and being willing to pay whatever cost that may require.”1 For we are not adding Christ to our own way of life but we are allowing Christ to help us crucify our old way of living and thinking, all the while understanding the high costs this entails.
Knowing what some of these costs are, as a new believer, can be very helpful in allowing us to see that the Christian life is our training grounds for eternity and that trials, suffering, pain, and persecution are part of the training package that all of us who are Christians need to understand and accept from the hand of Christ. I know for myself that the day I really understood that trials are often from the Lord, and that He uses them to build up my faith so that I can overcome them and through them bring glory to God, was the day I discovered that these costs actually produced incredible blessings in my life.
As I read and studied the Bible I began to learn that my training in the school of adversity helped me understand that as I obeyed God and did everything with a heart of thanksgiving, great joy began to flood my soul as I no longer did things to get the approval of man but to get the approval of God.
My friends now my motivation in life is to do everything for the glory of God. Yes, I often have to say no to my flesh, but in so doing my soul obtains great peace, joy, and meaning knowing that my actions are bringing glory to God. And as an added benefit I am accumulating an eternal weight of glory in heaven. To inspire you in your walk with the Lord please read and meditate on some of the most encouraging verses in all of Scripture:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Yes, as John MacArthur shared earlier, the cost of following Christ will be humanly speaking quite high, but in return, giving up everything for Christ is the only way to find true joy, total peace, rich meaning, and oh yes, eternal life! And in my book while the costs are high the blessings are simply out of this world!
I pray that you read my devotion below on the great missionary to Africa, David Livingstone. Livingstone, perhaps more than anyone I have read about, understood how living for Christ was the best way to live. Pay particular attention to his closing quote in my devotion.
David Livingstone – Missionary to Africa – Bible Apologetics – A DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Second Chances – The Cost of following Jesus (taken from a sermon given to Madera Mission)
We’ve all had the moment in our lives where we’ve made a mistake, done something we regretted, and wanted to do over.
Some mistakes were minor, some not.
Maybe taking something from your job, or a store, something small that wouldn’t be missed, or so you thought. Maybe your mistake was something larger…hurting someone, breaking the law, having to do some time for your mistake.
It’s happened to all of us. Something bad, and the desire, the wish, for a second chance to do it over, to fix the hurt or the wrong. It might be why you’re reading the devotional here tonight. Something happened, and now you’re looking for a second chance.
God knows this. God knows all about your pain, your good actions, your reasons for mistakes, and your heartfelt desire for a second chance, to make up for things you did that you might now have remorse.
And maybe some of you have no remorse, that you are feeling maybe there is no God, or that God has no place in His Master Plan for you…or maybe you just don’t know about it all. Word.
—- we all get a second chance in Christ. Every one of us.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that, “There is an appointed time for everything…” God has appointed a time for every single thing under the sun, including the time for our birth and our passing away. Ecclesiastes 5:1 tells us to “guard your steps as you go to the House of God, and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for fools know not that they do evil.”
Scripture tells us that there is wickedness where we expect good, righteousness where we might expect evil. We don’t know the fullness of God’s plan or details of His judgment.
But we are clearly assured that God will judge every single thing we all do, that we are responsible for the time we spend on this earth, and that we are accountable for what we do, say, and think.
And we don’t know when this reckoning will take place. But there will be a reckoning.
God’s plan is to redeem us, the sinners, because we are incapable of otherwise doing so. It is our nature to be sinful. God gave a truckload of laws to the Jews in the Old Testament, providing the laws that God expected His people to follow in order that they be saved.
Problem was – and is – that nobody is clean of heart, mind, and body enough to measure up. So His plan is for everyone.
So everyone gets an opportunity to win the ultimate prize. All it costs…is everything you are.
This is the Second Chance. You give up your sinful nature, and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord.
A second chance against Sin, and a second chance for Salvation.
For those still doubting this message, Ya gotta wonder here: if any of this message is true, do you have enough time to ignore this message, or do you take a chance and consider it?
If You are a gambler, do you hold on the second throw? Does this Second Chance really sound like a waste of your time?
We all know by now that we don’t control much of our personal world, and we have no control over the next world. I gotta ask the question: do you have a better game plan?
And so here is the message I leave you with tonight. We live in this world full of love, laughter, pain, and suffering. Some of it seems good; some seems bad. Nevertheless, the Word of God is spreading across the world, bringing the Promise of Life for any of us willing to submit and ask for it.
You’ve been offered a Second Chance at saving something you may not have a clew of understanding, or even of agreeing to. Consider that the message has survived almost 2,000 years, against all odds – against the single instance of someone proving that Jesus Christ did not do what He said He would.
No Other religion has the foundation that Christianity does. It’s based on a God becoming man, resurrecting and ascending — no other religion can touch this.
And what is better: God loves all of us, no matter what you have done in your life. You have the opportunity to receive your salvation through receiving your invitation from your Creator.
No other religion can even come close to offering this. It’s unique, It’s revolutionary, It’s complete love for us from our Creator.
The stakes are forever: do you really want to waste your Second Chance? God loves us all, even those who offer the sacrifice of fools.
Blessings.