The Price Tag

When we go the store, we usually take the time to evaluate the price tag on the particular item we are looking to buy. This is especially true if we have children who bring us the box of cookies. We take coupons and look for the best bargain for our money. And often, price determines whether or not we get the things we want after purchasing the things we need. We cannot buy the brand new television if we have spent our last dime on groceries.

Certainly there are people who are willing to spend every last penny on the things they want and then purchase a bill (or two) of groceries on the credit card. Hopefully we see this as foolish and are not engaged in this kind of debt augmentation. When it comes to the price tag, we are sure to check to see if we have enough to cover the bill.

There is a price tag and a price to be paid with world evangelism. I think there are too many in the pews who did not first examine the price tag themselves before taking the commitment. And it is not that they ignored the price tag; perhaps they are just ignorant of the price tag that comes with world evangelism having never been shown the price tag. God has built into his marvelous plan of redemption a price that must be paid on our accounts.

Families will give up children to mission field. They will bury loved on alien soil, on hills of foreign countries, under palm trees on island nations, and under blistering suns of African nations. Children will be raised in the culture of the mission field and will grow up seeing the people of that place for what they are: lost souls.

When Gerald Paden went to Italy, his wife, Bobbie, and he stayed with Bobbie’s parents. The next morning, they were gone, unable to bear the heartache that came with saying goodbye. It was the last time Bobbie saw her mother. Gerald’s parents took them to them train station. That was the last time he saw his father. In Italy, Gerald and Bobbie made many friends and fellow workers. And upon returning to the states, they said goodbye for the last time to people they would not see until eternity. In this life, as Christians, we say goodbye only until eternity.

This is the built-in price of world evangelism. And if world evangelism is to be priority one in every congregation, every Christian home, and in every individual, we must weigh the cost to see if we are willing to pay the toll. If we are not going to pay the price of fruitfulness, then we doom ourselves for fruitlessness and ultimately being cut off by the gardener. And like the salt that loses it savor, we are no longer good for anything except to thrown out and trampled under foot by men.