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What’s The Cost?
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men (1 Corinthians 7:23).
I just read again a piece that floats through my e-mail inbox about once a year. The writer of the article summarized the effect of the Revolutionary War on those whose signatures can be seen on the Declaration of Independence. Few of them came through those years unscathed. Many of them lost their families or their property, or both. Some of them paid the ultimate price for signing that document and for standing up for what they believed.
The amazing thing is that, apparently, none of those men turned back. They did not recant their declaration when they realized what price they might have to pay. What was the reason for such firmness and dedication? They were convinced that freedom from oppression and the opportunity for a nation to chart its own course were worth whatever price they might pay. And aren’t we glad they did?
I don’t know if those patriots of two hundred and thirty years ago realized the potential cost to themselves before signing the Declaration of Independence. I do know that someone else was keenly aware of the personal cost of his contribution to freedom almost two thousand years ago. In fact, the inspired writer, Paul, made it abundantly clear that Jesus deliberately paid a price that is beyond our comprehension. Jesus, he wrote, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). To make it possible for us to escape captivity to sin was so important that Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (2:7). Then, because further action needed to be taken, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (2:8).
Jesus left his home, even though it was the most comfortable “place” anyone could ever exist. He left his father in order to do the work his father asked him to do (John 4:34 & 9:4). And he paid, from the human point of view, the ultimate price by giving his life for the freedom of those who would believe and follow him. The cost was high, and Jesus knew in advance what the cost would be, and he still did what was needed.
The appropriate response to the sacrifice of those patriots of the American Revolution is to value, uphold and share the freedom provided to us through their actions. The appropriate response to the sacrifice of Jesus is to value, uphold and share the freedom provided to us through his actions. Or, in Paul’s words, we must continue to “work out” our salvation, “with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) so that we do not again “become slaves of men” (1 Corinthians 7:23).
I’m sure you’ll agree that winning and maintaining freedom are worth the cost.
-- Bobby Wheat
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