Faith is costly. At least mine is. And I bet that’s true of your faith also, dear readers. But why must my faith come with such a cost or at such a high price? Well, I read in one of Peter’s letters this-

“. . . now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 6-7)

So, my faith, your faith, is valuable – so valuable that it is “of greater worth than gold.” This makes sense when I realize that quite a high price was paid to rescue me, to redeem me, to purchase my eternal salvation. How high the price that brings me eternal life? The highest price possible – the life of God’s only Son, Jesus. Revelation reminds me of the price paid, saying this about Jesus –

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

God purchased you and me for Himself with the very blood of His Son, Jesus. Probably why Paul wrote these words in his letter to the church at Corinth –

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

When Paul told the Corinthians that they were “bought at a price”, he was referring to Jesus’s sacrificial death and shed blood on the cross on their behalf. I, too, was bought at this price, this very high price. No wonder my faith is costly. Look what my rescue and redemption cost God – the shedding of the blood of His own Son.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Centuries before God provided Jesus to pay our sin price, God provided Abraham with the sacrifice that he needed at a very critical time.

“Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’ ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together. . . . Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide.” (Genesis 22:7-8 & 13-14)

My redemption is costly. So should my faith be also. King David said as much in this exchange –

“Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. . . .O king, Araunah gives all this to the king.’ . . . But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.’ ” (2 Samuel 24:22-24)

Faith comes with a cost. Jesus was honest and up front about this.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

Yes, there is a cost to following after Jesus in faith. And you and I must count that cost and make our decisions accordingly. Jesus gave just such advice when He said –

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:28-33)

I have a choice to make every day – my way or my Savior’s way. The choice is always mine to make. No one said it would be easy – not even Jesus, Himself. In fact, Jesus said –

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20)

Jesus wasn’t promising a cushy, comfortable lifestyle to anyone. In fact, Jesus also gave this warning –

“No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20)

For some, they count the cost of following Jesus, and it is simply too high. It is a price they are not willing to pay. Such was the case for one man who sought out Jesus but then decided the cost was too high. The encounter unfolded in this way –

“As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up to Him and fell on his knees before Him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ . . . Jesus answered, You know the commandments: . . . ‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’ Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ He said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Mark 10:17-22)

I guess, for this man, the cost was just too high. Then there was a woman who was ridiculed, even shamed for offering to Jesus something that was quite costly. (kind of like King David who would not give something that didn’t cost him anything) Her story is this –

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’s feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages. . . . ‘Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied. ‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.’ ” (John 12:3-8)

A year’s wages! And Mary poured it on the feet of Jesus! She counted the cost and made her sacrifice of love.

The disciples saw the cost of their salvation and redemption as they watched Jesus’s sufferings as He hung on that cross. After Jesus’s resurrection, they had a choice to make. Would they carry His gospel message of God’s love, forgiveness and redemption to all people, including the Gentiles? It would not be easy. Spreading the gospel, speaking truth, would be downright dangerous. They already knew this because they witnessed what those in power did to Jesus. They knew their fate would be no different.

And yet, they counted the cost of their faith in Jesus and then they set out to do exactly what Jesus asked of them.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ ” (Matthew 28:18-20)

They were all killed for sharing their faith – each one paid the ultimate price. Faith was costly then and faith in God continues to be costly today. The events of this past week reminded me once again, just how costly faith is. May I be willing to count the cost, to follow Jesus without fear and even to pay the price of faith, since God’s word says my faith is “of greater worth than gold.”

sincerely, Grace Day