This is a statement I've heard many times since entering the Kingdom. While I've found it true, I've also found that what I've gained is immeasurable compared to what I've lost. So much so that I forget what I've given--what it's cost--to get to this point. Because everything I had to lose wasn't good for me anyway.
On the one hand, it is hard to willingly hand over absolutely everything to the control of Yahweh. Especially since it seems you know Him more and more only AFTER you've given these things up. But of course that's the case. These things are hindering your relationship with Him. Only once they're gone can you see Him more clearly. Blessed was I to see enough of Him to trust Him with everything. Blessed am I to receive His faithfulness in response to my own.
But I was considering this statement earlier today. It will cost you everything to be in the Kingdom. Honestly, superficially it sounds like a religious statement. I've read it in countless religious books, heard it in many religious songs. But to actually SEE it and EXPERIENCE it is another matter.
Because it is far from a religious experience.
It is, rather, life.
Because existence costs EVERYBODY everything, whether or not they enter the Kingdom. I haven't lost anything that wasn't already perishing. And in return I've gained things that will last eternally.
But those who refuse the gift of the Kingdom lose everything anyway. What they attempted to hold onto is wrenched unsympathetically from their grasp as they agonizingly try to hold onto it so much that, in the end, they lose themselves along with that which they were unwilling to surrender.
Kingdomheirs, on the other hand, release it willingly into the hands of our Creator who we trust and adore. And He, miraculously, gives it back to us in purer form than it was given to Him. We even give Him ourselves. Our very beings. And He takes us, labeled and searching and desperate as we were, and returns to us Ourselves. Identified, Found, Complete. One with Himself. The Creator of the Universe.
I've counted the cost. And yes! It IS worth it!
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