Have you ever second-guessed God's call on your life because of the cost involved? 

You feel God is leading you to take a new job, but it only pays half as much. You sense the Holy Spirit nudging you to go to a particular college, but it's 2,000 miles away from your family. You hear Jesus urging you to tell the gospel to your lifelong friend, Marge, but you know your boldness will change your relationship forever.  

God would never call us to do something painful, right?

Wrong. Living a life of faith means that you trust in God and His direction, not in your own common sense. As you follow Jesus don't be surprised when He calls you to do something costly, painful or (in your neighbor's eyes, at least) crazy.

Abraham, Father of Madmen

We all know that Abraham is known as the father of faith. But let's admit it: if we saw him on the street today, we'd think he's a bit of a nutter. 

When the Bible introduces Abraham, he's 75 years old. That's retirement age. He should be spending his time reading the paper or taking up a new hobby. But God calls him to leave his country, his people and his father's household to become the father of a nation (Genesis 12:1). We might not think that relocating is such a big deal today, but in Abraham's culture it would have been a huge cost. Family ties were fierce. You can hear the neighbors talking, "He's probably just going through a mid-life crisis -- 30 years too late."

Beyond that, faith is sometimes painful. Twenty-four years later, God was still promising Abraham a child, other than Ishmael, from whom a great nation would come. God gave a sign of His promise, circumcision (Genesis 17:11). You can bet it took faith for Abraham to carry out that sign. Again, you can hear the neighbors talking: "Hey there, Abe, where are you going with that knife?"

They would have thought him absolutely moonstruck.

But Abraham's defining moment was yet to come. Years after Isaac -- the miracle child -- was born, Abraham might have felt vindicated in his trust in God. None of his neighbors could doubt that God had done a marvelous thing. But the call of God was not over for Abraham. God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about" (Genesis 22:2).

Abraham might be thinking something like, "Lord, you've got to be kidding me. Do you know what he means to me? How on earth are Your promises going to come to pass if I make this sacrifice?"

But Abraham's faith didn't look to his own home-grown common sense, he looked to the Almighty. That's why he is known as the father of faith. As he lead Isaac and his two servants out of town the next morning, you can hear the neighbors joking, "There goes old Abe with his knife again ... must've heard from God." 

A Side Note

Now before you decide you're justified in doing something really crazy -- like going on a shooting spree at your local mall because "God told me so" -- let me add something. God will never tell you to go against His written Word, the Bible. It's never His will that you should cheat on your wife and run away with your secretary because He can't stand adultery.

And if you say, "Well, God told Abraham to kill Isaac. . ." don't forget the rest of Abraham's story. God didn't let Abraham go through with it. God ultimately said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy . . . do not do anything to him" (Genesis 22:12).

Hebrews 11 -- Rewritten

Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews is sometimes called the "hall of faith." But what if we re-wrote history so that it was the "hall of common sense"? Instead of saying, "By faith Noah . . . in holy fear built an ark to save his family" (Hebrews 11:7), we could say, "by common sense Noah built a really, really strong house because he figured that was way more useful than a boat. Or "by common sense Abraham stayed put in Haran because he was familiar with his neighbors." Or "by common sense Moses decided to exploit his position as the son of Pharaoh's daughter because he really liked riding around town in a fancy chariot." 

We serve a God who knows better than we do. Following Him by faith is costly, but not so costly as following our own good sense. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" --Proverbs 3:5-6