How Much Will This Choice Really Cost Me?

In order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

—2 Corinthians 2:11

A few years ago I sat at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) with one of my daughters while an officer told her the importance of good choices. She was getting her learner’s permit and entering the scary world of teenage drivers.

“We’ve had 320 teens killed this year in fatal car accidents, so we want to do everything possible to keep you safe,” the officer said sternly as she highlighted for my daughter all the many rules for new drivers. Then she suggested signing a contract with her parents incorporating these rules.

I’ve never wanted to hug a DMV officer. But it was all I could do not to reach across the desk and throw my arms around her. For, you see, I had already created a driving contract that each of my teenagers had to sign.

I’m sure the kids thought the contract was a bit over the top. After all, none of their friends had to sign such a document with their parents. So it was good to hear another adult speak truth into the life of my child.

And what I loved most about the officer’s sermonette on safe driving was her emphasis on the cost of wrong choices.

If I know how much something is going to cost me, I make much wiser choices.

How I wish we could all see the cost of our choices as clearly as a price tag on items in a store. If I know how much something is going to cost me, I make much wiser choices. But we have an Enemy who schemes against us to keep the cost of dumb decisions concealed until it’s too late.

Satan wants to defeat, discourage, and destroy our families. His attacks are not just willy-nilly attempts to trip us up or knock us down. He wants to take us out.

Do you know why Satan’s tactics are called schemes in 2 Corinthians 2:11? A scheme is a plan, design, or program of action. Satan’s schemes are well-crafted plans specifically targeted to increase your desire for something outside the will of God, make you think giving in to a weakness is no big deal, and minimize your ability to think through the consequences of falling for this temptation.

Satan is a master of keeping that cost hidden until it’s too late.

Sweet sisters, this is something worth thinking about. And it’s something worth talking about with our kids and the people we love. Consider age-appropriate examples of how costly wrong choices can be. Be real, raw, and bold as you walk them through different scenarios of temptations they might face.

That DMV officer was certainly bold in her explanation of the cost when a teen driver gets distracted by their cell phone or friends acting silly. Hearing her explain to my daughter how costly others’ poor choices have been made these “rules” seem more like life-saving gifts.

Think how different life might be if we all paused and asked ourselves this crucial question: How much will this choice really cost me? If we teach ourselves and those entrusted to us nothing else this week than to ask this one question, we will have invested wisely. So, so very wisely.

Dear Lord, I am reminded that boldly following You is so much better than any short-term experience that’s not pleasing to You. Give me Your eyes so I can see temptation and its many different faces. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.