It’s Time To Go
Jesus was a master planner. He knew when to wait and pray and He knew when to step out and act. There is a time for both. There is a season of consideration and planning, and then there is a season of acting and carrying out the plan. Wisdom demands both seasons. If we act without planning we find ourselves in a self-inflected trial. If we plan, but never carry out the plan then we are nothing more than thinkers and not doers, and ultimately accomplish little.
In Luke 14 Jesus is telling a parable. It is a story about counting the cost of following Him. In verses 28-30 He says, For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
The spiritual point of the story is clear. Don’t follow Jesus without first considering the cost. It’s not easy to follow Him in this life. So before you commit, take a season to consider.
This principle of considering before acting can be applied to many areas of our lives. I want to apply it to our renovation project.
For the last two years one of the prayers of our Elder Board has been a simple one, “Lord we need more facility space, show us what we should do?” We then entered a season of thinking, praying, planning and considering. We asked the congregation to pray with us. We watched as the Lord seemed to open doors, only to watch them shut again and again.
We now have a renovation plan we believe to be the answer to our prayers. It is a conservative plan, a practical plan, and an affordable plan. We will be incurring additional debt in the near future to help accomplish this plan, but believe the Lord will help us accomplish our desire to be debt-free as soon as it is reasonable.
But there does come a time to pull the trigger and go! We can continue to plan, pray, and try and project into the future and eventually do nothing. There comes a time where you’ve done your due diligence and you’ve prayed enough, and it’s time to act. Our church has reached such a time. It’s time to move forward with this renovation project. It’s a risk, it’s a challenge, and it could end in disaster. But the planning has been solid, the prayers have been diligent. The affirmation has come. It’s time to move!
This renovation project will begin sometime this summer. It will be completed by next Easter, maybe sooner. This will open the door for more effective ministries and
