Give You What Costs (Rap/R&B)
Rap/R&B Version
Written by Shane Pierson
The words
YeahI thought about this on the way hereWhich is already sayin' somethin'
I pulled up lateSaid I'd stay, didn't mean itPhone face-down, still feel it buzzin'Like it knows when I'm tryin' to focus
I give You piecesLike samplesLike crumbs off the tableThen I say "amen" real confidentLike You don't know what I'm dodgin'
I call it quietBut I'm just stallin'Call it peaceBut I'm still scrollin'I brought You time that didn't matterThen wondered why I still felt hollow
I don't wanna give You what's easyI don't wanna hand You what's leftIf it don't cost me my comfortWhy it feel like I'm callin' it faith
I don't wanna give You what's easyIf it don't make me slow downIf I can walk away untouchedThen what did I really lay down
I live where everything's loudEven when nobody's talkin'Ideas die young in my headBefore they finish walkin'
I say "just a second"That second turns thirtyI say "I'll come back"But I don't come back early
I protect my habits like they love meDefend 'em like they pay my billsBut I keep tellin' You "not yet"Like delay don't still mean no
If I can give it up easyIf I don't feel it resistThen maybe what I keep callin' worshipIs just me avoidin' the shift
I don't wanna give You what's easyI don't wanna hand You what's leftIf it don't cost me my comfortWhy it feel like I'm callin' it faith
I don't wanna give You what's easyIf it don't make me slow downIf I can walk away untouchedThen what did I really lay down
I'll buy the ground I'm standin' onNo discounts, no borrowed fireI won't say I love You out loudThen live like You're further down the wire
Take the minutes I guardTake the things I don't shareTake the part of me that says"I swear I care, I just ain't there"
I don't wanna give You what's easyI don't wanna hand You what's leftIf it costs me my attentionThen maybe that's the real check
I don't wanna give You what's easyI don't wanna call it enoughIf it costs me my attentionThen You can have the part I keep locked up
I won't offer You what costs me nothin'That deal don't sit right no moreIf attention's the priceI guess I finally know what You been askin' for
The story behind it
This song started as a journal entry I wrote during General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints a few years back. I found it one day just reading back through my notes in Evernote.
One of the prophets referenced the moment where King David said he would not offer the Lord something that cost him nothing (in 2 Samuel 24:24). That line stuck with me longer than most things do. Not in a dramatic way, but in a slow, persistent way that kept coming back up as I thought about my own life.
I started asking myself what I actually offer God. Not what sounds good or just looks faithful from the outside. But what really, truly costs me something.
I realized pretty quickly that a lot of what I do is habitual. Going to church. Saying prayers. Serving in callings. Those are good things, and they matter. But they can also become automatic. And automatic effort does not stretch you. It does not require surrender or demand much from you once it becomes routine.
That realization tied directly into something I have believed for a long time. You cannot idle forward in life. Physically or spiritually, idling is not neutral. If you are not exerting, you are regressing. The body at rest after effort heals. The body at rest without effort weakens. The same thing happens to your spirit.
So, this song lives in that realization. It is me noticing where I convince myself that something counts as sacrifice simply because it fits comfortably into my life. The line that matters most to me is the last one. Giving up what is hardest to give up.
Time with family. Control. Comfort. Work. Identity. Those are the things I protect the most, and those are usually the things that cost me the most to place on the table. This song is about being honest enough to see that and brave enough to act on it.
Testimonies & reflections
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