What is the Cost you Will Choose to Pay?

I've spent the summer reading Judges and 1 Samuel. They're not always the most enjoyable books to read (although a bit more interesting than lists of names or laws can be). As I've read and reflected on these books in God's Word, I've noticed a theme that runs through much of what they have to say:

Both disobedience and obedience to God have a cost

Over and over, these two books and many others tell the story of a choice to disobey God and the cost of that choice for the individual or for the entire nation. You can't really miss it as you read.

Sometimes, even the best of intentions was still disobedience. Sometimes it was outright refusal to obey. Sometimes it was a slow drift from where they should have been. The common thread in all of these is disobedience to God.

It made me wonder about my own life. Where are those places where I'm paying the cost of my own disobedience? Because our disobedience to God does have a cost.

Seeing the cost of disobedience so clearly made me notice something else. It highlighted the stories where obedience to God was the choice made. Often those stories of obedience to God also had a cost.

Choosing to obey God didn't mean there was no cost. It meant the cost was different. It mean the cost led to a deeper relationship with God, rather than increasing distance - to a greater level of trust.

Sometimes, from an earthly perspective, the higher cost came in choosing to obey God. It is the choice to go against what the world around us tells us. We might look weird. We might be made fun of. We might be unpopular. In some places, we might even put our lives in danger for our stand.

So, if both disobedience and obedience have a cost, then we have to make a choice:

What is the cost we are willing to pay? 

The cost of disobedience? Or the cost of obedience?