Question of My Life - Is It Worth It?

I confess…usually my message is written before I attend church for the week. This week, however, church was on Saturday and I didn’t know what I was going to write about yet, then Steven Furtick’s message touched my heart such that my weekly message will stem from his weekly message.  His message was titled, “It’s Worth the Dirt.”  My message will be called, Question of my Life - Is It Worth It? I could be the only one, but I suspect I am not, I ask myself this question multiple times per day!  I wrestle with this question all the time.  Sometimes, through prayer and meditation, I am able to answer and feel confident about my answer, but at other times, the Lord gives me a nudge or answers the question for me - which I appreciate!  

Many of you know that I began my career as an educator, teaching high school.  During that time, many of my students became parents.  When I was expecting my second child, I had six female students who were pregnant at the same time as me.  They always wanted to talk, but there was never enough time.  I took what I had bottled up to say to them and wrote a book called, A Girls’ Guide to Abstinence.  Then, feeling like the message should be balanced, I wanted to write a similar book for young men, but I didn’t know how to frame the abstinence message for boys.  In 2012, the Lord showed me exactly what I needed to say to young men, and that book is titled, A Guys’ Guide to Abstinence.  I designed covers for both books, then, because there is a cost to publishing, I questioned whether it was worth it to publish those books.  I convinced myself it was not.  Life went on, I worked, raised my children, did other things, but I did not write, and that is unlike me.  Finally, about two years later, I prayed and asked God, “why aren’t you giving me anything to write?”  He said, and I quote, “I gave you two books.”  Friends, if that wasn’t a nudge!  I opened files I hadn’t opened in two years, paid someone to design nice covers, had some people to read and help me edit and I published both books.  Since then, the Lord has not stopped (or slowed) in giving me writing material - I can’t type as fast as it comes to me. A Girl’s Guide to Abstinence has been my bestseller - not from Amazon, but purchases directly from me.  I’ve realized that the question of Is it worth it can actually be the voice of Satan trying to stop God’s plan.      

By no means was that the last time I wondered if what I was doing was worth it.  This is a daily, no multiple times per day, question!  I recently traveled to celebrate my 50th Birthday!  I hesitated, wondering if the trip was worth the money - it was!   Today (Saturday) and last night I wrestled with whether it was worth driving to Charlotte for the taping of this week's church service so services could be cancelled for the coming ice storm.  I decided to go, and it was worth it! 

Could it be that this question is one of Satan's tactics that he uses in multiple ways? 
-To keep us from being obedient to God's will
-To distract us from the blessings God has prepared for us
-To take our attention off what God is planning for us 
-To keep us in bondage with things that are not of God

I gave the example of the two books, but I have many more examples of myself wrestling with this question, and as I think about it, there's always an element of God's blessing that I stand to forfeit if I decide it's not worth it.  If we look back at Genesis 3, the first time Satan, the serpent, appears in Scripture, you can sort of see this question: 

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Read the whole passage, then look at verse 6, again.  "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it."  She decided it was worth it to listen to the serpent and not God.  She decided that listening to God was not worth it.  We all know what happened as a result of this decision.  Sin entered the world and Satan asks this question of mankind every single day!  It is important that we be in prayer and that we take time to meditate of God's word each day so that as the question of "Is it worth it" is raised, we are able to discern its origins.  Amen.  

Thank you for reading!
Please comment an example of how you have wondered, "Is it worth it?"  How has the Lord led you to respond?
Stay warm this weekend!

​Kim