Bad habits have a cost. Good habits have a price.
Things which harm us have a cost on the back end. Things which bring value to our lives require payment up front.
Every person is paying something. Some are paying the price now for a life that will be blessed later. Others are running up a bill that will come due when they least expect it. The person who chooses ease today is choosing pain tomorrow, and the person who chooses discipline today is choosing peace tomorrow.
The Bible lays this principle out in one verse:
Galatians 6:7-8 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
There is no getting around this. What we plant is what we harvest. What we feed is what grows.
The flesh is always easy up front with a massive cost on the backend. And the Spirit will always have a price up front with a payment as your reward on the backend.
The Lord Jesus told a story in Luke 15 that shows both sides of this. A young man came to his father and asked for his inheritance early. He wanted the reward without the wait and the money without the maturity. His father gave it to him and the son left home.
Luke 15:13 “And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.”
He did not think about the cos and only focused on the pleasure. He spent everything he had on things that felt good in the moment and left him empty in the end. The Bible says he wasted every single dollar. Every gift and opportunity his father had given him was wasted.
Then the bill came due.
Luke 15:14-16 “And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.”
Notice how quickly it turned. One season he was living like a king and the next season he was starving with the pigs. That is how sin works every time. It gives you a little bit of pleasure up front and then charges you everything on the back end. He paid the cost of his bad habits and the cost was steep.
But the story does not end there.
Luke 15:17-18 “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee.”
Coming home was not free for the young man. He had to pay in humility and repentance. He had to walk back to the father he had disrespected and admit he was wrong. That is a hard payment for a proud heart to make!
But the young man paid it and when he did, the father ran to him, put a robe on him, and killed the fatted calf. The price of repentance brought restoration and the cost of rebellion had brought ruin. Same young man with two different transactions.
The Two Ledgers
Every one of us is keeping two ledgers whether we know it or not. One side records what we sow to the flesh and the other side records what we sow to the Spirit. Both sides are getting filled up every day and both will pay out.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Sin pays wages and God gives gifts. One side is earned and the other side is given. But make no mistake, both sides come with a real weight and a real return.
What Bad Habits Cost You
The Bible is not silent about what sin does to a life. It costs more than we think and it takes longer to pay off than we planned.
- James 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
- Proverbs 5:11-12 “And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;”
- Proverbs 13:15 “Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.”
- Proverbs 10:16 “The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.”
- Proverbs 11:18 “The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.”
Every one of these verses says the same thing in a different way. The way of sin looks easy going in and turns hard going out. It always costs more than it advertised.
What Good Habits Pay You
The other side of the ledger looks different. It is not easy up front and requires payment to enter. But every payment made in wisdom pays back with interests that compounds in your favor.
- Proverbs 4:13 “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.”
- Proverbs 19:20 “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.”
- Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
- Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”
- Proverbs 13:13 “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”
- 2 Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”
Every one of these verses is telling us the same story. Pay now, receive later. Discipline yourself in the small things and you will reap in the big things.
The prodigal son had two moments that changed his life. The first moment was when he chose the far country and the second moment was when he came to himself. One moment cost him everything and the other moment brought him back to abounding blessings.
You have the same two moments available to you every single day. You can sow to the flesh and pay the cost, or you can sow to the Spirit and pay the price. One will bankrupt your soul and the other will build it.
The father is still watching the road and He is still waiting for those who will come home. He is still killing the fatted calf for anyone who will pay the price of humility and repentance.
