“Is it worth the price?”

“Is it worth the price?”

We ask it at the store, when we’re shopping online, or even when deciding how to spend our time. But there’s one place where this question really matters — our walk with Christ.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:24–26 (NLT), “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”

Following Him comes with a cost — surrender, trust, and sometimes sacrifice. But the reward? Eternal life, peace that passes understanding, and a relationship with the One who never fails. And friend, that is more than worth the price.

I’m a cautious spender. I don’t like to spend large amounts of it; it makes me a little anxious.

When I think about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, I sense His anxiety at the price He is about to pay. This is something larger than I can even dream about paying, and as we read, we know how He was feeling about it…. He asked for the cup to pass Him, and He was in such anguish He sweat blood. But in the end of it all, He knew it was worth the price of His life to save all of the Father’s children.

Think about the price paid for you and be thankful for this life given and the life that God saved you from.

Let’s tie in some peer pressure to wondering if our walk with God is worth it.

When you are hanging out with your people and they start doing things or gossiping or whatever, do you join in?

Oftentimes we don’t even realize we’ve joined in or think it’s no big deal because it is something so small.

Think about it — gossip is just talking, right? But it’s not, and yet we are joining in even if we didn’t intend to do that.

We are not always careful and discerning when it comes to conversations or the pressures of life.

Jesus walked this Earth and faced every pressure and temptation, and yet He knew that He was called to stay the path. Don’t be so pressured by the things of this life that you forget that you are walking with the Lord.

Our Father God and His Son, Jesus, knew the price that was to be paid, and they absolutely knew that it was worth it. Despite the pain, the suffering, and grief, it was always going to happen.

Here’s the thing — we don’t usually question the worth of things until it brings uncertainty, pain, suffering, and grief. The good news is that we can look to Jesus and learn that despite all of the strife, God is in control, and all that we do is for the Kingdom of God. It will be worth whatever the price is that we will have to pay.

How often do you question, “Is it worth it?”

My kids ask me this in a roundabout way when they go to buy something. They ask what I think, and they ask if they should buy it.

I have told them since they were little and would spend their birthday money to think about these 3 things:

Is it useful?

Is it something you really want to spend the money on?

And if we left and you thought about it, would you still want to come back and buy it?

I want them to be mindful of their spending. When we think about the price of things and ask ourselves these types of questions, we can and will understand the importance of things.

God weighed all the options when it came to giving His one and only Son as the price for our sins, and in the end, He knew that it was worth it.

I saw this post, and it said that a celebrity bought a dress, wore it one time, and it sold for like $365,000. No one questioned it, and everybody thought it was okay because a celebrity wore it.

But when something else comes up that is far less expensive, it is questioned.

Why do we think something so meaningless and something we would never use is worth such an amount, but when God calls us to something, we just don’t know if it’s worth the risk?

God thought you were worth it enough to let His Son die for you, so why do we then struggle to believe that God’s plan is worth it for us?

When I was in high school, I did not think anything was worth it.

To be honest, I had been hurt a time or two by people, and so I learned to keep to myself about everything and not really let anyone in. It wasn’t worth it to me. This also meant not letting God in.

I believed in God and knew that Christ had saved me, but I didn’t really do much past those thoughts because I thought doing other things with my time was better or handling things on my own was fine.

It wasn’t until my grandfather passed away that I really knew the brevity of life. It wasn’t until my father died that I knew the importance of having a close relationship with the Lord.

It wasn’t until tragedy that I thought my walk with the Lord was worth it.

Matthew 16:24–26 (NLT), “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”

Don’t be like me and wait for tragedy. Act now, dive in, and let your relationship with the Lord be the thing you find the most worth in.

When we come to Christ, we are to give up our old selves and become new in Him. But so many of us don’t want to give it all up. We like certain things the way they are, and so we just don’t think it is worth it to give it up because we can be a Christ follower and continue on with certain things.

This may be true, but if God is calling you to give up things, then you need to realize that the price of obedience is greater than anything you are trying to hold on to.

Nothing we have and all that we are is worth the price to give up in order to live fully for Christ.

Matthew 16:24–26 (NLT), “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”

Giving up our lives to be saved sounds contradictory, but that is exactly what we are to do. It’s like surrendering to find freedom.

In our earthly thinking and by worldly standards it doesn’t make any sense. But as we read the Bible, we can read about Paul who gave up everything and suffered so much but was free through it all because he knew that all he was doing was worth the price of giving up his life for the sake of the Lord.

The world will tell us that what we do doesn’t make sense, but with God in control, we know that it does make sense, and it is worth going against worldly standards to live a life for Him.

Is it worth the price?

That is a huge question and one we should ask the Lord before we do anything.

Like me asking my kids the 3 questions before they spend their money, let’s ask God some questions before we jump in with our own way.

Let’s ask –

God, would this be useful for you if I did this?

God, is this something I should spend my time on?

Then let’s pray, get confirmation, and then let’s obey.

When we seek the Lord before acting, we will find that we are going to be doing what He wants of us and not just what we want to do. There will be more joy and less regret.

I want you to think about this: everything in life has a cost, but not everything is worth it. The world tells us to chase success, status, and stuff — but Jesus tells us that the real treasure is found in Him.

Matthew 16 reminds us that gaining the whole world means nothing if we lose our soul.

So yes, following Christ requires letting go of our own way. But what we gain is immeasurable — forgiveness, purpose, and life everlasting.

So, when you ask yourself, “Is it worth the price?” — remember this: with Jesus, the answer will always be yes.