Hidden Costs

My grandson is fascinated with commercials. He'll see things and look at me and say, "We need that Nene." The most recent item was the Ab Circle. I thought, "Yeah, I could handle some exercise, and it actually looks like fun." $14.95 plus shipping and handling...not too bad. So I look it up online and guess what...the shipping cost is $34.95. So what I thought was an okay price turned into a not so great price. That's how these things go. Hidden costs. Had I not investigated the cost first, I would have been quite surprised to find that the hidden cost was more than I wanted to pay.

As I thought about this, I was reminded of how the devil sets things up to make sin look so enticing and fun. But what isn't revealed are those hidden costs. And there comes a time when we must pay up. Some might think that being a Christian eliminates them from having to pay. I mean, let's face it, Jesus' blood covered it all, right? While His blood did cover those sins we might commit even after salvation, this doesn't always mean we will avoid the consequences of our actions. Some things we do will set things in motion, and we may end up being surprised at the cost we later have to pay. It's kind of like smoking. You can go years without any effects and then suddenly you're hit with lung cancer. Or drinking. You drink one or two here and there, which eventually leads you to becoming an alcoholic. The addiction has taken control and you are now in bondage to it. The Bible tells us that a man is slave to whatever has mastered him. I don't know about you, but I don't like being a slave to sin. That is why it is so vitally important to nip it in the bud before it happens. It's much easier to stop it while it is small and has no strong hold on us. Continual compromise causes blindness to the seriousness of the sin. When temptation comes, we need to immediately look for that way out that the Bible speaks of in 1 Corinthians 10:13. It says: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." I recently read an essay that I found quite interesting. You can check it out here: http://www.growingchristians.org/dfgc/escape.htm

Another scripture that I think would fit well here, even though the verses around it speak more about not being anxious, is Philippians 4:8, which says: "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things." You see, the battle starts in our minds. In order to avoid acting on the temtpation, we need to replace the thought with something else. That something else needs to be centered on God. Meditating on scripture helps. Listening to praise music is also helpful.

In our lives there will be times when we mess up. In those times, we need to be quick to repent. Don't believe the lies Satan tries to tell you...you know the ones..."well, you already did it once, so what's one more time?" Or maybe he tells you, "It's not that bad...everybody does it." But as my mama always says, "If somebody jumped off a bridge would you do it?" Maybe that's not quite a good example in this day and age of adrenaline junkies searching for the next scary rush. But I think you get the picture. Just because someone else does it, doesn't mean we have to do it too.