What Did You Say It Cost?

After thinking about it all day long, I had finally made up my mind.  Sitting in my conference I had hardly been able to  concentrate on anything except the beautiful yellow Dana Buchman  jacket  I had seen the day before.  The leather had been so soft - it felt like butter in my hands.  Why had I hesitated when the $80 price tag had seemed so reasonable for a garment of such quality? 

At the end of the conference my friends and I fought the Memphis rush hour traffic to get back to the mall.  I promptly plucked the jacket from the display and proceeded to the sales associate to pay for my purchase.  As she and I chatted, I must have been euphoric at the excitement of getting such a nice jacket at this price-but the euphoria didn't last long.  I scanned my debit card and entered my pin number-then I was prompted to confirm the amount.  After quickly hitting "accept" I realized that there were more digits in the price than I thought .  The jacket had not cost $80, but $800.  There was absolutely no way I could afford nor did I intend to pay $800 for this jacket. That day I left without a jacket but with the understanding that some things just cost more that you ever want to pay!

This concept is true not only for clothes, food, vacations etc, but also in regard to sin . Sin always costs us more than we want to pay.  We see this truth over and over and scripture. Here are just a few examples:

•  Adam and Eve had a high cost for their sin- not only did they experience shame over their nakedness but Eve would experience  pains in child birth and Adam would have to toil to make the ground produce.  The greatest cost of all  was separation from God.  All creation still  pays the price for their sin.
•  Because of the wickedness of the people in Noah's time they were destroyed by a flood.  It cost them their very lives.
• Disobedience caused the Israelites to wander 40 years on a journey that should have taken only eleven days. 
• David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband lead to the death of the child that was conceived from the affair. 
• Solomon's disobedience in taking multiple wives led to the division of the kingdom of Israel. 
• Nebuchadnezzar's pride cost him his mind.
• Lies and greed cost Ananias and Sapphira their lives.

These are just a few.  The scripture is full of the accounts of those whose sin and failure cost them much more than they would have ever dreamed and most certainly more than they ever would have wanted to pay.   We have seen it in our lives and the lives of those we love.  Sin has a price tag and it is high! When our lives get out of control those things that we once thought were so pleasurable turn into something that controls us.  Most of us have found ourselves there at one time or another.

Our sin cost the blameless Son of God, Jesus, His  life.  As He suffered and bleed on that cross He bore the weight of our sins that day.  Whatever the sin,  God offers us the opportunity to repent.  Repentance involves us experiencing a Godly sorrow for our sin and asking for forgiveness but it MUST also be accompanied by a change of behavior.  When we repent scripture says,

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."   Psalm 103:12

Unfortunately, His forgiveness doesn't mean that the consequences of the sin are removed.  We may have to pay a price here on earth for our sin and it could  be very costly.    Yet, in God's  forgiveness scripture says He remembers our sins no more (Isa 43:25).  What an act of divine mercy!!