The Price and Cost for more of God and His Presence

 The Price and Cost for more of God and His Presence

I was reading an account of a preacher’s experience that I had previous heard him describe before in a sermon. Thought the account was familiar to me this time though it hit different.  

The experience was during a time he had spent months desiring and seeking more of God and His Presence.  There were two statements that the preacher made from this account that the Lord highlighted for me.  The first was “My request for more of God carried a price” and the second was from his cry to the Lord “I must have more of You at any cost!”.

These statements when I had heard them before sounded very true and I totally had agreed with them.  In fact, they had inspired me.  This time, though, was different.  This time there was at first, for a moment fear and not a Godly fear.  No, it was a fear that the price I would have to pay would be the cost of the life of one or more of my children. Thankfully, as quick as the fear came the Holy Spirit spoke to my mind, because that was where the fear was, and dispatched that fear. What He spoke was of how foolish this fear was because God is not a God of human sacrifice.  He is not like the false gods in the Old Testament that we have to sacrifice our children to as a way to please or appease.  NO! He is the God who sacrificed HIS SON for me!  

After being rid of that foolish fearful thought I then examined these two statements that the preacher had made more closely.  From a certain perspective what he said does have a certain truth. Upon further reflection, thought, I saw that they carried much more error.  

God doesn’t treat our relationship with Him as transactional.  To be certain many times on our part we do treat our relationship with Him as transactional.  I believe that we do this mainly because we think that whatever happens in our relationship starts with us instead of remembering that it all started with Him.  Even James4:8, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded., can only happen because He first has drawn us to Him, John 6:43-44 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

With that said it is true that as we draw more into His Presence there will be things in our life that will leave and thus give the appearance that there was a price that we paid. That is why I believe that is what this preacher and so many of us view as a price or costing us something.  In the preacher’s case it was his pride and dignity.  In my case, so far, it has been frustration, negative thinking, stop seeking His blessings and gifts as the goal instead of Him, as well as my desire to not look or be thought of as flakey or foolish.  

In examining these things that are the “price or cost” of having more of God and His presence I saw that it really wasn’t costing me anything that had any real value to me.  It was like someone coming to my house saying that they had a bar of gold for me but that it would cost me the garbage in my garbage can. Seriously, where is the cost to me in that?  The price I have to pay is my garbage?  You mean that stuff that I pay money every month for someone to come haul away and you want to give me a bar of gold for that?  If someone came to my door with that offer I would either take it so quick it would make their head spin or call to get the person some mental health help. So, if what is leaving me, or what I am “giving up”, really has no value to me is it really a price that is costing me anything? If it isn’t really costing me anything then am I really paying a price?

Let me wrap this up with a reminder that there is a price and a cost for more of Him, for a greater intimacy of relationship and to abide in Him and Him in us.  It is just that we don’t pay that price because Jesus already did and so therefore it really costs us nothing.  This is not to say that if we respond to His desire for us to draw closer to Him that there won’t be some discomfort of things that will have to leave our lives as we do so.  Sadly, this pain comes because we are like spiritual hoarders. Holding on to things that are worthless feeling that they actually add value to our lives when in fact they are just making a big mess in our lives and holding us in self-imposed bondage. 

Thought it can be viewed as a transaction it really isn’t.  It is more a reaction.  The more we come into His light more of the darkness that leaves.  He is not asking or waiting on us to pay a cost to come into His Presence.  He is just saying “Come. I have paid the cost for this relationship.  Come and spend time with Me. Come and dwell/abide/inhabit Me fully because I want to dwell/abide/inhabit you fully.”