Luke 14:28 “For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it?”
Everything of eternal value will have a cost attached to it in the natural realm. The personalized cross that the Holy Spirit applies to your life will always identify that cost. The cross always offends our natural way of thinking and acting. The message of the cross is a constant message, it’s a personal message, and we ignore it at our peril. Forgiveness is not an option, we live a lifestyle of forgiveness, ‘Forgive as the Father forgave you’ (Eph 4:32) Death to self is a daily choice that I make at each moment that the spirit requires my heart to bow. Living to please God who sees in secret is our only option. We are His people and the sheep of His earthly pasture.
Luke 9:23 “And Jesus said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”
The cross is an intersection between my horizontal “natural” path and the possibility of a vertical “supernatural” relationship. If you want to build a high tower of relationship with the Lord, it will require your whole heart. The cross is where my rights end and His begin. When He says come follow me, He gets to choose the path less traveled. Each of us must make this life changing decision to “take up our cross.” When we willingly do this each day, our present relationship to the Lord, and our eternal position in the ages to come, will be dramatically affected.
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God”