Worth It

Those who shed tears as they plant will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.

Psalm 126:5

 

I’ve been meaning to write on this idea for some time now, and I’m glad I’ve put it off because it’s only matured with age. Over the years, and especially these recent months, I have often been faced with the question “Is it worth it?”

Some examples:

Is it worth it to buy a new (different) car?

Is it worth it to move (here, there, or the other place)?

Is it worth it to take a trip to such-and-such a place?

Is it worth it to eat healthy? (I submit that it is)

Is it worth the emotional energy to tell my kid no for the 100^th time?

Is it worth it to change jobs?

Is it worth it to study this book or that?

Anyway, I think you get the picture. Everyday in many ways all of us are faced with these same types of questions. Most of the time they are like the ones above – important, but not necessarily life altering. But every so often we are faced with the BIG ones:

Is it worth my career?

Is it worth all my life savings?

Is it worth losing friends?

Is it worth committing to for the rest of my life?

Is it worth losing all I own for?

Is it worth not experiencing life with my extended family for the next 20 years?

Is it worth being estranged from all that’s familiar?

Is it worth raising kids that won’t feel truly at home anywhere?

Is it worth dying for?

Is it worth the lives of my family?

We will all eventually be faced with some or most of these, but I have wrestled through all these and more over the last years – and have been revisiting them over the last months! These are not lite, nor should they be answered flippantly. And the answer to all of these is (obviously) dependent on what ‘it’ is referring to. If ‘it’ is referring to something temporal, like let’s say ice cream, I sure hope the answer to all the above is no.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know what the ‘it’ is that I’m referring to – going to the ends of the earth with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Intellectually, it’s pretty easy to sit back and think “Yeah, of course it’s worth it!” but in practical reality, when rubber meets the road if these questions haven’t truly been weighed and considered it is only natural for us to take the path of least resistance.

In Matthew 28:19 Jesus calls us to go and make disciples of all nations – have you ever considering what that might cost, and whether or not you believe it would be worth it?

I know my answers – do you?

 

Is It Worth It?

Is it worth the stress and anxiety,

to move my family across the sea?

Is it worth the heart-ache and pain

To say goodbye to loved ones once again?

Is it worth the sleepless night

To bring enemies to Light?

And is it worth it,

Having laid aside our comforts and our rights,

To instead become aliens, outsiders, home always just out of sight?

Is it worth the fear and loss,

To count family in the cost?

I must conclude:

It is worth any price that can be asked,

If with His mission we have been tasked.