"For which of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost?" Luke 14:28 If you read the paragraph surrounding this verse you will hear Jesus challenging those who wish to follow him. He encourages them to assess there level of commitment in relation to the long term cost of following Christ. Sit down and calculate. For a right brained person like myself, this is appealing; let's talk it through logically. Let's consider it point by point and if I have got my stuff together; maybe I can convince you. Let me tell you the reasons why following Jesus is worth while.
What is naturally harder for me to speak to is the 'wanting.' "For which of you, when he wants." Passion precedes Principles. I know it sounds dangerous; too easy to misconstrue. I am not suggesting that passion precedes principles in importance, value, or necessity. In the invitation to relationship with Christ we are not ultimately winning others to a conceptual framework (although that is important), we are introducing them to a person. It is when the wanting has sprung into the human heart, that we now consider the doing. I WANT to build, now I need to consider the COST of building.
If I am in conversation and I detect a longing, a desire, a moving of the heart towards Christ, I know that it has been placed there by God. God is up to something. My goal is draw out that wanting, to encourage it. "Let's consider together what it means to follow Christ, because I sense that you have an interest."
An err toward principles is legalism, and err toward passion is license. Let's be people who are passionate in our love for God, and guided by principles in our daily walk. For us Christians, the two go effortlessly hand in hand.
Aaron
