The Department of Agriculture building in Washington, DC on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. President Trump recently announced he would be freezing federal grants, which includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). (Photo by Annabelle Gordon/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
“It’s scary because I’m a cancer survivor. I’m in remission. My doctor has not released me to go back to work yet, so I’m on disability, and I really need the extra for food, because by the time I pay all the bills, there’s really nothing left.” This is how one person described her plight as she faced the cutoff of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Over forty-one million Americans benefit from the federal program, one of many that have been suspended during the ongoing government shutdown, which entered its second month Saturday.
One solution is for Republicans to end the filibuster in the Senate, which would allow them to end the government shutdown and pass legislation with a simple majority. However, many Republican senators are vocally defending the sixty-vote requirement. Without it, when Democrats retake the Senate someday, House Speaker Mike Johnson warns that they “would pack the Supreme Court” and “make Puerto Rico and DC states.”
Whatever your views on the shutdown and its causes or solutions, this ongoing controversy highlights a fact of life: present decisions can have future costs that outweigh their present benefits.
This principle is vital not only to our democratic governance but also to our souls.
“Not knowing where he was going”
Sin offers immediate payoffs with delayed costs. The thief owns what he steals today; his possible arrest is in the future. People who commit adultery, view pornography, abuse alcohol, or use illicit drugs—each experiences what their sin offers now while paying the price later.
Why does God permit this calculus?
Our Creator honors the free will with which we are created in his image (Genesis 1:27). He must therefore allow us to misuse our freedom by falling to temptations while ignoring the fact that they always cost more than they pay.
By contrast, biblical obedience pays more than it costs.
- To follow God’s call, Abraham left his family and homeland as he “went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8), but he eventually became the father of a “great nation” (Genesis 12:2).
- Moses traveled for forty years in the wilderness before seeing the Promised Land, but he gave the Law to the world and changed human history.
- Jesus’ obedience to his Father’s will (Matthew 26:39) led to the horrors of Good Friday but the victory of Easter Sunday and the salvation of billions over the centuries.
From learning a language to gaining professional expertise to investing in the stock market to traveling to a remote destination, we must pay a price in the present if we are to experience its benefit in the future. This is especially true for the faith required for us to choose biblical obedience in light of future reward.
Staying up late to watch the World Series
At this point, you probably expect me to encourage you to take such a step of faith, whatever its present cost, in the assurance that you will be grateful one day you did. After all, we make such transactional decisions in nearly every dimension of our lives every day.
For example, my wife and I stayed up much later than usual Saturday night to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series. She is from LA, and we both wanted Clayton Kershaw to win another title before he retires. We were a bit groggy at church yesterday morning but glad for the late-night experience. If the Dodgers had lost, however, we would have felt differently about the lost sleep.
This is how life works in a consumption-based economy where you get what you pay for. And it is how our religion works for most of us as well: serve God today so he will bless us tomorrow.
However, it’s not the essence of true biblical faith.
In fact, it can be the greatest nemesis to our relationship with our Lord.
Business partners with God
Jesus’ command was to “love” God, not to “serve” him (Matthew 22:37). The benefits of serving God are to be a consequence of our obedience, not its purpose or goal.
When we serve our Father so he will serve us, we make ourselves his equal in a business partnership or even his superior and him our servant. This is especially true with regard to evil and suffering: when God doesn’t seem to keep up his end of the “bargain,” we can feel justified in rejecting his demands on our lives.
And when we serve him so he will serve us, it is often hard to refuse the immediate “reward” of sin and the cost of obedience. We can always repent later, we tell ourselves. And the future benefits of present faithfulness seem murky and ethereal in the face of present temptations.
However, if we make it our life purpose simply to love the Lord fully and passionately, everything changes. We obey him because we love him, not so he will bless our obedience. We pay any price to serve him because the price of service is irrelevant to love.
We then experience the joy of a transformational relationship rather than the drudgery of a transactional religion. And in a consumption-driven culture where we never have enough and people are means to our ends, our joy becomes contagious.
“The true measure of loving God”
So, here’s the question that changes our lives and our world: How do we love God more fully today?
- Choose to make loving God our “first and greatest commandment” and purpose (Matthew 22:38).
- Submit to the Spirit each day (Ephesians 5:18), asking him to produce the “fruit” of “love” for God in our lives (Galatians 5:22).
- Take time every day to reflect on his love for us, proven at the cross and every time he forgives our sin, meets our needs, and blesses our lives. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
This is also important: If we fall to temptation, identify the source of our sin as a failure to love our Lord. Jesus assured us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, my emphasis). The next time you are tempted, remember that this sin will grieve your Lord (cf. Genesis 6:6, Ephesians 4:30) who loves you passionately and unconditionally (cf. Romans 5:8). If you are dealing with an ongoing pattern of sin in your life, ask the Spirit to help you love your Father more than you love your sin.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) noted,
“The true measure of loving God is to love him without measure.”
How truly will you love God today?
Quote for the day:
“The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.” —Julian of Norwich (1342–c. 1416)
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