Did We Count the Cost Wrong?
When we moved with our three kids to a Nivaclé village in the Chaco region of Paraguay, we never could have imagined the challenges that lay ahead. The environment was difficult enough with extreme heat, dust, lack of clean water and the massive number of bugs, venomous spiders and snakes that lived at our house. However, that was nothing compared to the number of serious illnesses and emergencies we faced while living hours away from a hospital. During those years of hardship while struggling to learn the complicated Nivaclé language and having minimal results during Bible teaching, we faced discouragement and questioned if our sacrifice was worth it. Was the cost too much for our family? During such a time, the Lord prompted Francisco to share what was on his heart.
Francisco rarely visited our house. His extremely bowed legs made the long walk difficult. But during the years that we taught Nivaclé Bible lessons near his house, he was faithful to attend, even though he didn’t seem to understand fully or to agree with the teaching. After we had finished another round of teaching, we returned to North America for a home assignment.
Upon our returning to the Nivaclé village, Francisco immediately showed up at our house. He came to the gate and announced, “Grandson, I have come to tell you something.”
When we sat down, he jumped right in. He reminded me that he had been coming to the Bible teaching and listening to what I had been telling them. Then he told me that while he understood what I was saying, he wanted me to know that he was angry and believed that what I was saying was wrong. He said that it had kept him awake at night because he was angry with me, that what I was teaching was so different from what he had always believed.
At this point, I didn’t know where the conversation was going because for him to admit being angry was a huge deal in his culture.
He went on to say that he couldn’t stop thinking about it until one night the Lord spoke to him. He said, “The Lord told me that I wasn’t angry with you, grandson. I was angry with Him, because you were just telling me what He says in His Word. I realized then that I had been mad at you because I didn’t want to believe. But God showed me that I was actually mad at Him, and it was in that moment that I believed what you have been teaching.”
You could have knocked me over with a feather. God, in His grace, was giving me a glimpse into the work that He was doing.
Francisco continued, “This is what I came to tell you. I want you to know that I now believe that Jesus paid the price for my sins and that I can’t work for my salvation. That is all I came to tell you, grandson. That is it, and I am going to head back home before it gets dark.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-11 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
Just recently, one of our Nivaclé friends let us know that Francisco passed away. One day we will stand around the Lord’s throne with Nivaclé people, and one of them will be Francisco. All the unknown sacrifices and losses that we had no idea we would face were nothing compared to knowing Him better and making Him known in that Nivaclé village.
How might the Lord be asking you to count the cost, dear reader? Are you willing to say, “I’m Yours, no matter the cost,” to the One who sacrificed all so we could spend eternity with Him?
