Pay now or later?
Pay now and receive blessings later.
OR
Pleasure now and pay later.
Those are crucial differences between obeying the Lord, and choosing sin.
We often talk about the blessings of obedience. There are many blessings, thrilling results of following our Lord. That will be a topic for another time.
Cost of Obedience
We shouldn’t discount that there are costs to obedience. In order to obey Him, we have to deny ourselves, refusing to do what we ourselves want to do, and we have to take up our cross, engaging in something we would not have chosen.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
Your will be done. (Matthew 6:10)
Whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)
The cost of following Christ happens first, with blessings coming later.
Cost of Disobedience
With sin, however, it is reversed. When we sin, there is immediate pleasure. We’ve gotten our own way. We’ve gotten whatever it is that looked great. But, following that, are the consequences of our sins, sometimes significant, and sometimes lasting for a lifetime.
But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. (Matthew 6:2, 23:5)
Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. (Matthew 23:12)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. (Matthew 23:14)
To get to the blessings, you have to pay the cost
That is true in the secular world, too. My beloved grandmother used to say: “You have to suffer to be beautiful.” That was probably a retort to my complaints about sleeping in hair rollers (Yes, I’m that old!). But you can see it everywhere: Athletes who push their bodies over years in order to win the gold; People studying day after day to master a subject; Dieters who regulate their intake to get to the proper weight.
Be Alert
Remember, the cost of obedience is always less, always, than the cost of disobedience. (See Chapters 13 and 24 in When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready?)
