Many years ago, there was a respected man in the church I was serving.  He had been married for twenty years and had three wonderful children.  This man and his wife had a nice life and were, by all appearances, happy.  One day the wife made a tearful appointment with my secretary and this couple came in to talk with me.  As the story unfolded, this man had fallen in love with his best friend’s twenty-one year old daughter.  Using every conceivable argument, I appealed to him against leaving his wife.  I told him if he left his wife for this young woman, it would be a terrible sin and the price he would pay would be too high.  I passionately shared with him that he would lose his marriage to his high school sweetheart, he would lose the respect of his children and his community, he would lose the friendship of his best friend.  Yet, the man’s only response was, “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

As the years unfolded, all of my prophecies came true and some that I didn’t think of happened to this man.  He lost every valuable relationship and thing in his life, and in the end, was discarded and broke - jobless, friendless, and alone.

In life, sometimes, we choose the hard way.  I remember when I was in the second grade in elementary school; the principle told me if I didn’t stop talking, I would spend the rest of my elementary school years in the library.  I eventually read every book in the library including the World Book Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica.  When I was in junior high, the coach said, “If you don’t stop talking, you’re going to run every day in gym instead of playing football, basketball, and baseball with the other guys.”   In those days, I became an excellent runner.

We all have a choice in our everyday life of following the authority over us or paying a price.  If we are willful and disobedient, whether it is to earthly authorities or to God, there is always a price to be paid.  The sin of disobedience is costly.

Following God’s will may be challenging.  However, it is very rewarding.  When God called me to go to seminary, I was ill-prepared.  My first semester, I had to look up every word.  I had absolutely zero money and I could only afford to eat vegetable soup and yogurt.  I worked endless hours as a youth minister.  I struggled to understand the theological language in the first few months at Emory.  Yet, God called me to be a minister and I had to be prepared. 

After Paul was called, he had trouble convincing people he was genuine.  Finally, Barnabas, one of the apostles, took Paul under his wing and began to teach him.  As Paul was used by God, the price tag was exacting.  In Acts 9:15, as God speaks to Ananias, He says, “Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.”  Verse 16 says, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  If we follow God, our lives will have great challenges.  Yet the reward, even with the challenges and difficulties, is worth the price of acquiescence.

This is the truth…sin has a price tag.  The following of God, too, has a price tag.  In the end, the sinners and the saints both die.  The sinners leave a life of stench and destruction.  The saints, even with much of suffering, leave a life that is a pleasing aroma and memory to those they touched.  The life of a saint is not always flowers in the spring.  Yet it is truly substantive and more valuable than all the wealth the world can offer.

Prayer:  Dear God, help us to choose the life of a saint.  Amen.