Count the Cost

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This post from a friend of mine is definitely worth reading and considering. I was encouraged and challenged by it. Check it out!

austind90's avatarAustin's Blog

1922362_10201558996516806_1379901703_nI preached at Crescent City Christian School this past Friday for middle and high school chapel. Every time I get the privilege of preaching, I always try to choose a text that is relevant to the audience as well as my own life. Friday’s sermon was for the students and faculty but it was also for me. The call to “count the cost” or “pick up your cross and follow me” is always timely in my own life. Many times I don’t want to pick up my cross. Cross-bearing hurts. It is hard. We don’t get to pick our crosses.

Many times I want to pick the way and method of dying to myself and following Jesus. But, of course, it does not work like that. I want to avoid suffering. I want comfort. Suffering is having what you don’t want and wanting what you don’t have. I want neither…

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Let Me Be Found Faithful

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Let me be found faithful
In the task at hand,
Working so to never earn
A word of reprimand.

Let me always listen
To the Master’s voice,
Never speaking ill of him,
But learning to rejoice.

Let me walk in wisdom
Each and every day,
Knowing that apart from Christ
There is no other way.

Let me know my limits,
My true state to see,
Resting in the love of God
In sweet humility.

Let me walk in freedom,
Nevermore to sin,
Following my Savior till
I die to live again.

Wondrous Redemption, Mysterious Mercy

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What kind of God would answer sin
With mercy, grace, and love?
Who pardons one so dark within
With blood from One above?              
What Lord would take the rebel wretch
And make of him a son
While sending his own Son to fetch
Through death the wicked one?
How can it be that I should see        
Your love on full display   
When, even as I follow Thee,
I still do you betray?
I stand in guilt before your throne;
You throw my sin away.
You say I’ll never be alone;
Your Spirit here will stay.
O Lord of all, I worship you
In spite of who I am
For who you are and what you do,
O sacrificial Lamb.

First thoughts in 2015

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How often does my heart long for blessings in time rather than the eternal Lord? I find myself wanting what I can feel and see over what truly lasts. I long for shadows more than the Son.

This year, may that change. I pray that I would look to God at all times in all things. Let me no longer be satisfied with the temporary when eternity is in my heart. Let the Almighty be all my hope and joy and peace. May I seek to glorify him in every action, thought, relationship, exercise, job, etc. I want to live like I’ve been redeemed. I want to want holiness.

God, hear my prayer. Change my desires. Increase my faith. Sanctify my soul. Discipline me. Use me.

I surrender all.

A Joyful Cogitation

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What beauty does exist for those
Whose lives are lost for better life,
For from the death of flesh arose
Freedom and vict’ry over strife!
In Christ, the perfect priest of hope
Indwelling all whom he has gleaned,
No devil now can interlope
Near to the souls the blood has cleaned.
A joy now reigns in time of loss,
And loss of all is highest gain.
Salvation, that the crux – the cross,
Succeeded in the Savior’s pain.
Pure now, the slate of sinful man,
Purged by surrender to the King.
“Repentance! Glory! Heaven’s plan!”
Redemption opens lips to sing.
Destruction now can not destroy.
Despair no longer holds its pow’r.
Temptation fails to be a ploy
Though hell should loose itself this hour.
Christ’s work has won a life of peace.
Creation’s hope we recognize.
Old, earthly treasures we release.
Onward we march! On to the prize!

Security

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Though through the darkest valleys I
May pass in my pursuit of thee
I will remember thou art nigh
And call to mind your love for me

And though my path be wrought with pain
From broken hopes and shattered dreams
I will find joy in you again
And rest in you by peaceful streams

And though the sorrow may increase
Beyond all limits I perceived
You are for me a constant peace
The Lord in whom I have believed

Though weakness and despair abound
As mortal flesh its limits reach
In you, my strength afresh is found
As I your aid do now beseech

GPS Apps and Temptation

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James 1:12-18

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

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Faith

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O blessed joy of ignorance
As to what lies ahead,
For fears assault my common sense
In search of steps to tread.
My future lies unknown to me
Beyond my line of sight,
And as I look to what I see,
My heart is filled with fright.
This drives me to despair in hope
In what I can create
Until, as I in darkness grope,
I learn to sit and wait.
O blessed desperation which
Destroys the idol’s hold
And shows me that I am not rich
In faith like saints of old.
O blessed pain that pushes back
Against my comfort’s walls
And makes me see my state of lack
Instead of white washed halls.
Oh bless the trial that makes me know
I have no hope but one.
I can’t complain if I would grow
In light of God’s own Son.
My flesh is strong, my weakness vast,
My hope in self has died.
His love is proved from ages past.
In him, I shall abide.