If it cost me nothing, then it has cost me everything.

So here I am preparing to go on another mission trip. I plan to go back to Honduras and don't think for one second I have forgotten about Kenya, I still long for it everyday at it crosses my mind. I know that day will come, but I also feel that for right now I can invest in others and grow if my faith as I embark on another trip to Honduras. I hope that in this trip I use my skills in investing in individuals and am able to take more of a leadership role. Now to the title of this post. The statement seems in many ways to be self contradicting. Yet I believe that this is a idea that is clearly made through out the entire New Testament. Allow me to explain. Just from the simple idea that Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins should validate the idea. If he would have never went to that cross, then his entire purpose would have been lost. His coming to this earth would have been miraculous, but he would have been know as just another teacher, healer, and prophet. Not that I am ever saying that would have happened. God in his Sovereign Good Pleasure both allowed and foreknew it was going to happen. We also take what the disciples and the early church leaders went through. Most of them were persecuted and exiled from their communities and families. If you have not figured it out by now, Yes this is another post about suffering. I wanted to say something about it again for two reasons. One I believe that it is so foreign to the theology of the average Christian today and two part of me longs to be called worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. It is not like I like struggling and hurting in many ways of my life, but I have started to understand that through scripture, life experience, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit that suffer for his glory is a way for the believer to strengthen his or her identity with Christ. Now back to the idea of another trip and doing missions long term. I still have bills to pay, things I need and not a whole lot of money. These things cost money and always seem to get provided for, but what if they didn't, what if one trip to share the Gospel with people I don't even know would cost me every last penny after selling everything I have on this earth. Would it still be worth it? Yes! You will never be able to put a price on a soul and you can't put a price on faithfulness. Using reverse logic we can make the statement say this: "If it cost me everything, then it has cost me nothing." This is true, because at that point it is all about God's Glory.