Count the Cost | Crossroads Daily

Hey, we're back. I'm Kirsten Eklund. I'm Chris. And I'm Debo. Let's get into it. So we're talking about Jesus sharing all these parables. This whole chapter is just filled with parables. Jesus telling these stories to kind of teach them something. And there's this one parable about a wedding banquet and how Jesus is asking his people to take a seat of humility. How, when you walk into an event and you see, you know, the, the hot seat open, you're like, I'm just going to go sit by all the, like the cool people, you know, like that, that's the right place for me. But then when you're asked, like, you should go like, sit at the, it like hurts a little bit where he goes like shot versus if you just take the seat of the lesser, which I'm assuming back then, Chris knows more biblical history than me, but like back then there was probably like a hierarchy. Or the kid's table. Yeah. Yeah. Go to the kid's table. There's coloring books. Like that actually sounds more fun. It does. Like the party table is always like the rebels and the people you're like, that's where the fun is always. Anyways. I'm too introverted for that. Kid's table sounds nice. So that's what Jesus is saying.

He's pretty much saying, put your egos aside, take a stance of humility. And so my question to you guys is how does your ego get in the way of what Jesus is asking of you? I can share. I have a big ego. Well, like I love the honesty. Oh, it's brutal. Yeah. Sometimes my honesty is just like part of the ego. It's like, wow, maybe if I be more honest, people will think I'm stronger than like, whatever it's a vicious cycle. But often I see it in, in my job. Um, right now I work with a lot of just people that need a lot of love, need a lot of nurturing, and I, and I've shared this before, but it is like so true in my life of my role before this, I planned and prepped and led an event for 12,000 people, and I left that project being like, oh my gosh, this is what the top of the world must feel like. Like, this is awesome. You know, like leaders of our, um, church being like, wow, Kirsten, great job. Like the praise all over to literally guys, months of cleaning out the bottom of fridges and cabinets and restocking napkins and talk about a hit to your ego. And I wanted so badly to be like, God, this can't be where you want me right now. And like, even though I know that it is, I'm like, this can't be right. Like, I know I could be doing so much more. Um, and I think if I was very, very close to letting my ego get in the way, um, just, I could have easily gone out and sought out, um, new opportunities and things like that to kind of get me out of that place or just ignore that work completely. Um, but I'm so glad that I did it because the fruit that came out of it and the humility of realizing that's the exact work that Jesus would have done himself

and wanted me to do. And literally the, the stark contrast between that project in my next day, cleaning out, it was beer out of the bottom of a fridge. It was just like actually a beautiful representation of, of what I believe this is, this is saying. So that's actually a backward example of what I asked, but you guys get the point. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I don't want to hide it. Well, probably my ego is also huge and it, I feel like it's just a consistent belief that life should be easy and that like the more good things I do for God, the easier he will make life be for me. People will treat me better. And it's just this inflated view of myself where I should be treated like royalty all the time, like, especially to my family, but like a stranger that I bump into at the grocery store and I can just get so confused when I'm not treated perfectly, like, especially from people who follow GS. I'm like, well, you, you should know how to treat people. And so like when you hurt me or offend me, like that's double something. And, uh, yeah. And just a thought and I'm like, I, I just think life should be simple. If I follow God, it means that if I do a plus B, it should equal C and that if I do the right thing, he will grant me some reward. And at the end of the day, it's just always about me. I'm just like thinking about myself with everything. Like it's just what can feed me to have an easier, more comfortable life. And I'm just, I gotta always be reminding myself that God is what life is about.

And my life is actually more freeing if I stop making it about myself. But I'm just thinking about me 99.9% of the time. Hearing people say that out loud makes me feel so normal. I'm like, I have to be the most selfish human in the world. Like it has to be a thing. So thank you. Because I do not see that in you at all. I'm hiding it well. Yeah, but maybe that's why we need this conversation is maybe it's not even hiding. It's just realizing like, oh yeah, this is another con, for sure. Guys, I can't do the word conscience. I need to remember what Jesus is asking of us. Yeah, I think for me, I fight my ego weekly. I mean, at the minimum. As someone who just sings on stage, I think that in Lynn Leeds' worship, I think I can fight my pride. I'm fighting my pride constantly and thinking that like I have some sort of like part in transforming people's hearts through worship, which is like such a scary place to be. And I think it's our natural inclination to be prideful. Like it's a constant pushing back of like our pride and our ego. And I think anytime I do that, I'm identifying more and more with Christ. Like we see in this passage,

like he's reminding us of humility. And like in other scripture where he talks about washing the disciples' feet, like as the Messiah, like he always constantly takes the lowest place. And I'm reminded through this, like anytime I do that, I'm like identifying more and more with Christ, which is what I want. But it's so hard. It is so hard to, yeah. It's hard fighting that ego and pride in us. It's so good. Also in this chapter is one of my favorite things that Jesus does, which is healing on the Sabbath and the Pharisees, which are like teachers with egos. These are people that they have egos. If we see anything, it's like, these people want nothing more than to be right, than to have their way, than to be in power, which we all relate to. And Jesus is such a rebel because this is a law in their faith. This is something that is known in the culture that Jesus has lived and grown up in. It's like, you don't work on the Sabbath and healing is an act of work. And so they're like calling him out, like you can't be healing on the Sabbath, you like horrible human.

And he's like, what do you mean? Like, how have you been so brainwashed in your own like world that you've built based on your ego that you would not help someone that needed it on the Sabbath? Yeah, it seems so backwards. He says, if your ox or your son falls into a well, aren't you gonna get him out? And it's so hilarious picturing like a Pharisee being like, you'll be fine until tomorrow. Like, what a ridiculous picture. And I think that's a fun question that we can play with of like egos getting in your way to the point of creating your own little world of beliefs. What are, sorry, this is unrelated. That was a tangent that I just wanted to throw in there because I feel very strongly about it. But practically, what are ways that you're working on your ego right now? Like, what are ways that you are kind of aware and knocking it down to pursue humility? Something I'm trying to do to let God work on this big ego I have is being more curious about him in a lot of ways and just not trying to have it all figured out. And my wife and I have been watching the show The Chosen lately. And every episode, I'm just like, I think I would have been a Pharisee. Like, 100%, that's me. Because they're just trying to do things by the book.

And like 2% of me empathizes with them of like, they're kind of trying to just do what's right. Like when they're like, hey, it's God gave us this law and he says don't heal on the Sabbath. So like, you're doing something wrong. And maybe their hearts were in the wrong place in a lot of ways. But sometimes they're trying to do what they think is right. But where they've shut off is this thought that like, they think they have God figured out. And I just know I will never have that figured out. But I live like I do. And because it makes me feel smarter, more secure, I want to put God in a box because that just. makes life make more sense, and it's scarier, more adventurous when he's not in that box and when God is God, but that means I have to let go of a lot of things of pride, ego, wanting to be the smartest person in the room. And so, yeah, I think it's me reading the scriptures and knowing God may share something different with me in this time than I read even last week, and that when I'm 90, he's going to show me things and being like, oh my gosh, I missed that my whole life. Like I didn't know this thing, but he just showed it to me and like I should always be growing in a way and not just be stuck of like, no, I got it all figured out and just doing stuff not about me. Like I realized the more I give my life and time away to serve others, yeah, it's to quote Abraham Lincoln, which I knew you, you guys knew I'd bring him up in this conversation, obviously. I don't know what the betting line on that was, but I'm going to talk about him. All the people that have lived since, but go on. Someone is excited that I just brought up Abraham Lincoln. He has a quote that says to ease another's heartache is to forget one's own.

And it's just so easy to be so self-obsessed, but you just realize how much you forget about your own stuff when you're just giving your life away to serve others. So I'm trying to be more free in that way. I love that. For me, I think a practical takeaway is like actively looking for opportunities to make myself the least. So in this story where Jesus is like, take the lowest seat, even though there's a seat at the head table, don't do that. So in my everyday life, what does that look like for me to literally do to be the least? And yeah, just to ask the Lord to reveal, what are the areas in my life that I feel like I'm just being, I have so much ego or pride? And I think it reveals those things to us. Yeah, in our everyday, with our families or friends, finding those opportunities to make ourselves the least. What's an example of that? If you have one, I want to put you on the spot. Well, an example I think we can see in our everyday, at least maybe I could see in my own life, is that when I'm with friends and they're sharing things, to just be actively listening and to not make it about myself or to just have a humble mindset of asking questions or not inserting my own self in it or thinking, well, I've done this or just trying to promote my own self, which I think sometimes we can do if we do have an egotistical mind or prideful mind where we want to be the center or we want to be the main character of conversations. Rather, I think we can, and I for myself, try to be a good listener, to ask questions and to be empathetic. And I think that's a practical way of being like Jesus. Yeah, definitely. My practical thing is I need to schedule out just reminders to be like, you will have opportunities to serve today, to serve your coworkers, to serve your family. My sister yesterday, my husband and I had a miscommunication on scheduling and I just

said out loud like, oh yeah, the boys are going to go to this childcare place at 3 p.m. tomorrow. I'm going to drive them there. And he said, who? I have a meeting tomorrow. And my sister was around and she was like, oh, don't worry. Like I'm off tomorrow. I'll come and take your boys to like childcare and hang out for two hours of my day and read a book while they're there. And I was just thinking it was instant, like before we were even done spatting out. We had a whole argument about it and then like recovered and talked about it before going and just destroying him and duck and rolling, which made me feel really good. But the moral of the story is that like convicted me. Seeing her have that instant heart of like, you know what? I don't have anything better to do other than serve my sister and brother-in-law. In her spare time. Yeah. That is not me. And I want it so badly to be me. So and I need those reminders. Also thinking through like, OK, if I'm at work and my coworker is breaking down boxes and I'm walking by breaking down boxes takes 30 seconds with especially when you double the amount of people doing it worth it. I can be I'm 30 seconds late to a lot of things I I can sacrifice for that. And it's not because they need me to. It's not because it's my job and I need to take my ego away and be like because often it'll get manipulated and be like, oh, that's. This'll get me brownie points with Jesse later. Like if I help him now, he'll help me later. And I need to really like submit that and surrender that

and be like, you know what? I can do this without ever getting anything in return. My sister is gonna give her time away today and she will get nothing, nothing in return. It is pure sacrifice. Talk about lack of ego. Yeah, for sure. So, all right, that's it. See you guys later. Bye. Bye.