Is It Worth the Price?

We are all familiar with the process of trying to determine if something is actually worth what it costs. We look at items on a store shelf and try to decide if the name brand item is worth its higher price, or would the cheaper store brand work just as well. Sometimes we decide that the benefit we receive is just not enough to justify the cost and we don’t buy either one. In some things the price is figured in terms other than money. We have something we want to do and we have to decide if the benefit we receive is worth the time and effort it will cost. Sin has a price, too. Sometimes that price comes in terms of money but often the price is something else. Ecclesiastes 10:1 says, “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.” A person can spend years building up a good reputation just to have a little “folly”, a little sin, take it all away. Our good name is a high price to pay for sin. In 2 Samuel 12:14 David found that the price of his sin with Bathsheba was terribly high. Even though David repented and would not die himself, he was told, “because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” His sin cost the life of his child. The burden of guilt can also be a price that one pays for sin. Read Psalms 51. David’s sin also cost him in terms of a guilty conscience. Consider how the apostle Paul refers to himself in 1 Timothy 1:12-15, he had formerly been “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man”, one who was “chief” of sinners. Even though he had been forgiven of these past sins, Paul still paid a price. Even though we have repented of some past sin, we may still suffer the pangs of a guilty conscience. A steep price to pay. When we consider the possible price we may have to pay, is sin ever worth what it costs? Absolutely not! Even if our sins are forgiven, the price we may have to pay in this life is too high by far. And consider the price of sin that has not been forgiven. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).