I’m a bargain shopper. When making a purchase, I like to look around to make sure I’m getting the best deal. I’m the type of guy that walks in the store and head straight for the clearance rack. Before I order something on line, I do a Google search to see if there’s any coupons floating around in cyberspace. Every so often, I run across some amazing deals. At other times, it’s difficult to get the deal I want. As much as I shop around, every once in awhile I have to bite the bullet and realize that this product or service is going to cost me full price.
In leadership, we sometimes get things at a bargain: low cost, high return. A fifteen minute conversation proves to be life changing. You pray for a person for one minute and God answers it in a big way. You preach one of your old sermons and it impacts the life of your church. You thought it would cost you time and energy and God sends you a 80% off coupon. You rejoice because you didn’t have to pay a high price! There are some things, however, that only come at a premium price. No matter how much you shop around, it doesn’t come cheap. No coupon. No mark down. No clearance. No deal. You can choose to embrace the cost and go to the next level, or be fruggal and stay where you are. There are equipment, events, and life lessons that are high cost, high return. They often require a level of risk. You may have to preach a sermon on a topic that you are extremely uncomfortable addressing. You may have to drive hours to have a thirty minute meeting with someone influential. You may have to carry the emotional weight of a vision until it comes to past. In 2 Samuel 24:24, David said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” David realize that every thing that pertains to God doesn’t come cheap or easy. Things of high value sometimes comes at a high cost.
