Today’s Devotion
Topic: Sit Down, Estimate The Cost And Complete It! (Part 1)
Text: Luke 14: 28- 30
28 Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Amen
In this technological age of ‘fast’ and ‘smart’, many have no time to nurture ideas through strategic planning and preparation before jumping into ventures that look excellent in their world of fantasy. They really care nothing about its practicality or feasibility. Once they ‘FEEL’ it’s cool, then they are ready to go into it. At least until disaster exposes how ill-prepared they were for it or how foolish they have been; failing to do proper analysis before jumping into the open sea to catch a glimpse of the ‘dancing’ dolphin they saw in their dream.
Before young people can know what love is and the responsibilities that come with it, they are already in love; toying with each other’s emotions until at least one of them becomes a casualty. Others jump on into marriage without a clue of what commitment is. To appease themselves or society, they do this and later on realise they had needed more counsel first, or some more intimacy with God, or a good job, and some more mental maturity.
When Socrates said, “an unexamined life is not worth living”, he was not just being poetic. It is a fact of life. Life is not a game or a wonder to be experimented by the living. It is a gift that we must account for one day. It is too costly, therefore, to jump into anything anyhow because of how we feel about it. So that if a person feels like quitting his job or school today, then he/she quits by tomorrow and there’s nothing to it? Wow; there’s every consequence to it for him/her to face!
From the text above, our Lord makes it so clear: Anyone who is thinking about building a tower must first SIT DOWN, ESTIMATE THE COST AND SEE IF HE CAN COMPLETE IT. Let’s break it down:
i. “SIT DOWN” here means don’t do it yet; not even when you feel like it’s a great thing to do or that it’s time bound. Don’t do it yet even if it’s competitive and others are pushing you to it. Don’t do anything about any of your aspirations until you have had time to think through, sought counsel and had a work plan for it.
ii. TO ESTIMATE THE COST is to understand exactly what goes into such a venture; how much resources it demands and how much of you it will require at each level. It includes doing visibility studies and proper analysis of the said venture to inform your next action so you do not act on your own perception.
iii. TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER YOU CAN COMPLETE IT is equally very important. There is never a reward for half work done. This means that, our goal with every venture must be to complete it and not to take it where our strength can carry us. This is because strength is but only one of the requirements needed to push a dream. Secondly, the ‘strength tank’ can be refilled, energized and driven when the right conditions are created.
Again, as stated earlier, do not jump out into the open sea just to take a glimpse of the ‘dancing dolphins’ you saw in your dreams. You will drown, unless you can swim at sea. Even so, of what benefit is a dancing dolphin to such a risk? That part of the sea you jumped into might have no dolphins at all, just sharks and bad currents.
“Wise people think before they act; fools don’t — and even brag about their foolishness” (Prov 13: 16, NLT). Make a decision today to think through everything before you act. Pray for the grace to walk with the Lord with patience; allowing Him to prepare you for every task before you jump into it. In case a hasty decision has ended you where you shouldn’t be, pray and ask for mercy to carry through as God makes all things work together for your good! May God help us all.
EXPECT THE CONCLUDING PART OF THIS SERIES TOMORROW!
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