Can You Pay The Price?

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

Luke 14:28-30

It is trite and cliche to say that the path of faith is not an easy path. Yet we do well to remember that sayings are trite and cliche because they are true—and the truth is that the path of faith is not an easy path.

Keeping to my beliefs when the world at every turn wants to steer me away from them, off into the weeds, and away from my ultimate spiritual destination is a constant challenge. Keeping true to my faith is a daily struggle, and also a daily discipline.

Why is faith a struggle? Why does faith demand discipline?

Ultimately, faith is a choice. We choose to believe, or we choose not to believe. We choose to follow God’s Law, or we choose to ignore God’s Law. We choose to be holy, or we choose to disregard holiness.

Every choice carries with it a consequence—usually several consequences. Every choice leads to an action, which necessarily triggers a reaction, which becomes a consequence. Regardless of one’s choices regarding faith, this is always the reality. Regardless of ones choices regarding faith, this is always the order of things.

What are the consequences of faith?

When you choose to walk the path of faith, will your friends remain alongside you on that path? Some may, but others may not. Whichever path you choose, any one of your friends, and even any member of your family, who chooses a different path will eventually move away and be separated from you.

Choosing faith means giving up friends. Choosing faith means giving up family members. Choosing faith means separating from any and all who will not walk alongside you on your chosen path.

Conversely, friends and family who abandon the path of faith are choosing to separate themselves from those who remain on that path. If you wish to remain close to someone you necessarily must walk the same path as they do, and make largely the same choices they do. If you want to keep someone in your life you must choose to do as they do, even if what they do is unwise, unhealthy, or even illegal. If you do not choose to do as they do, you will not keep them in your life—you cannot keep them in your life.

Choices lead to actions. Actions cause reactions. Reactions become consequences.

Choosing faith means choosing not to indulge in wanton pleasures. Choosing faith means choosing not to indulge in the passing desires of the flesh, desires which run contrary to God’s Law. Things which make us feel good in the moment we must let go when we choose faith, because we are being called to put aside such momentary gratifications in pursuit of a higher pleasure.

Conversely, clinging to those momentary gratifications precludes walking the path of faith. Indulging in alcohol, or drugs, or casual sex, or any other behavior which God’s Law says we should not do, is a choice not to follow God’s Law, and thus is a choice not to walk the path of faith. Pursuing such momentary gratifications means also pursuing people who share the same impulses, and seek the same gratifications, while abandoning people who pursue faith instead. You cannot get such momentary gratifications from people who choose to deny such carnal pleasures in favor of the satisfactions of faith.

Choices lead to actions. Actions cause reactions. Reactions become consequences.

Choosing faith, or choosing to abandon faith, invariably involves a measure of separation from certain individuals. Turning toward anything invariably means turning away from other things. Walking towards faith means walking away from all those who will not accept the choice of faith, and will not walk the path of faith.

Thus faith necessarily entails a measure of loss. Every change we make in our lives entails a measure of loss. Just because we choose to move away from certain individuals does not mean we lose all feelings for those individuals. We do not stop thinking of people as “friend” simply because they choose a different path. Even if we think of a friendship as ended because of the choices we make—as well as the choices they make—would we not enjoy reconnecting with those friends should our choices lead us down paths which reunite us at some point?

Would we not smile at even a momentary reunion, before our paths diverge yet again?

Would we not rejoice if a friend who initially chooses differently, who chooses to move away from faith, comes to embrace the path of faith and comes back to us even as they come back to God?

Would we not celebrate a friend who chooses afterwards to join us on the path of faith?

Absolutely we would. And absolutely we should. If we have enjoyed a person’s company before we chose a path of faith, it would be absurd not to enjoy that person’s company again should they choose to join us on that path of faith. It would be absurd not to be gladdened and made happy by even a brief reunion.

More than that, if we by our choices inspire others to make the same or similar choices, then we are in that moment truly being God’s light to the world. We would not—we should not—close a door on someone we love, but rather we would and should hope—and pray—they choose to pass through that door. If they do, we get the reward of being reunited with them.

We have no guarantees that they will make that choice, that they will pass through that door, that we will be reunited with them on the path of faith. We have no guarantees and we should not seek such guarantees. We must be at peace with the possibility that they will never make such a choice, and that we will never be reunited with them. We must accept that all such friends, regardless of how much we love them, may be removed from our lives forever. We may hope for reunion, but we must accept the possibility that the loss is permanent. Such is the inevitable outcome of choices.

Choices lead to actions. Actions cause reactions. Reactions become consequences.

Nor is it simply the loss of former friends and transient pleasures which may discomfit us on the path of faith. If we commit to following God’s Law in all things, we may find ourselves at a point where we must choose faith over a job, faith over economic security, perhaps even faith over political security and personal safety. We do well to remember that people of faith are targeted and persecuted the world over. There are places where the choice of faith is one fraught with political and even physical dangers.

If we choose faith, we are choosing a path which will not only have at times challenges, but will have potentially extreme risks and dangers. If we choose faith, we are choosing a path which will almost certainly demand from us difficult choices. If we choose faith, we will at times be called to take a leap of faith. We might not know the particulars, but even the tiniest bit of life experience is enough to tell us that this is absolutely so.

Choices lead to actions. Actions cause reactions. Reactions become consequences.

Is the path of faith worth walking? Is choosing faith always the good choice?

For myself, the answer is unequivocally and emphatically “Yes!” While I miss the friends and loved ones I have left behind, I do not for a second regret the choice, and do not want to make any other.

Yet I am not unmindful that the choice of faith is one which is always fraught with loss. There are consequences to the choice of faith which do not feel at all good. There are consequences to the choice of faith which I do not enjoy in the slightest. Losing friends is never pleasant. Giving up things which feel good in the moment always carries with it the pang of knowing that pleasure is always just an impulse away.

I feel the loss. I am aware of choosing to refrain from a momentary gratification. Faith does not remove these feelings, nor does it moderate them much in the moment. I am still saddened by the loss of friends and loved ones. I am still tempted by the momentary gratifications.

Such losses are the price of faith. Such losses are the consequence of choosing faith. Choosing faith means I choose to accept the loss of friends. Choosing faith means I choose to forego momentary gratifications. Choosing faith means I choose to pay this price.

Choosing faith is not therefore a choice to made idly, or casually. It is certainly not a choice to be made frivolously. Choosing faith is a choice that will bring both happiness and sadness, both pleasure and pain. Choosing faith means choosing to pay the price of faith, both today and every day for the rest of your life.

Am I willing to pay this price? Yes. Without hesitation, my answer is always yes. For me, choosing faith has lifted up my life in ways I would never have thought possible before. I am inspired and motivated to take on new challenges, and embrace new disciplines. I am moved to grow in new and exciting directions. None of this would happen had I not chosen faith.

Are you willing to pay this price? I certainly hope the answer for you is “yes”. I certainly pray that you find in faith the same rewards and satisfactions I do, and that these are more than enough to compensate for the losses choosing faith invariably causes.

Faith exacts a consequence. Faith exacts a price. For myself, the rewards of faith are greater than the consequences and the price. I pray that you find the rewards of faith to be similarly greater than the consequences and the price. I pray you choose to pay the price, both today and every day.