The Economy of the Infinite: Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost defined…
“The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action.”
-Financial Dictionary

Basically, if you choose Option A, you give up Option B. If you pick Rocky Road, you surrender Cookies ‘n’ Cream. If you pursue a college decree, you relinquish a full-time income. If you choose the night lights of the city, you forfeit the starry skies of the country.

Ever since I first wrote on the economy of the infinite last spring, I’ve been considering opportunity cost in the realm of eternal truths. There are at least two ways in which this economic term is reflected in the gospel. One relates to Christ’s decisions, and one relates to mine...and to yours.

In Philippians 2, Paul gives us a glimpse of what opportunity cost looked like for the world’s preeminent hero:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (verses 5-8)

The all-sufficient, all-powerful Christ gave up His heavenly throne to come to earth as a needy baby. Though He was fully God, He didn’t take advantage of His divine privileges. He relinquished them, subjecting Himself to the limitations of humanity. But He didn’t come to just be human. The peak of Christ’s earthly purpose was accomplished in His excruciating suffering and death and in His triumphant resurrection.

We can see what Christ sacrificed. But why? What was His motive for choosing Option A and giving up Option B? The answer is twofold. Number one: Jesus came to die that God might be glorified. “‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’” (John 12:27-28).

Number two: Jesus came to die so that a lost world might be saved from hell. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Paul put it like this: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

The sacrificial generosity of Christ has been seen and sung for two thousand years. But why doesn’t everyone choose it? The math seems pretty simple. We deserve hell. Jesus offers heaven to us if we truly repent and trust in His moral perfection to replace our moral filth. So, if we choose to believe that in faith, we forfeit our tickets to eternal suffering. Pretty sweet deal. Why wouldn’t everyone pick that option?

Well, lest I oversimplify the issue, it may be a matter of never hearing the truth. It may be a matter of never recognizing a need for salvation. But it may be a matter of opportunity cost. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” Jesus told His disciples:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. (Matthew 16:24-27)

Now, was Jesus saying every true believer must be a martyr? Was He saying that real Christians must live a life void of happiness and pleasure? Of course not. Jesus was saying that the choice to pursue Him is just like any other choice, and, though the rewards are infinitely great, it demands a price. A life truly submitted to the lordship of Jesus will increasingly reflect that joyful submission in actions, desires, words, and thoughts. God doesn’t want your lip service, and on Judgment Day, it will mean nothing. (Matthew 7:21)

So following Christ means we are obedient to His Father. (1 John 2:3-6, 3:4-10, 5:1-5) Opportunity cost for the Christian means you don’t get to do whatever you want. You don’t get to cheat your way to gain or ease. You don’t get to gossip about your neighbor. You don’t get to waste your life in drunkenness. You don’t get to gratify your lusts with pornography. You don’t get to have sex outside of marriage. You don’t get to spend all of your resources on your own pursuits. You don’t get to hide when truth must be championed. You don’t get to be silent when souls around you are perishing. You don’t get marry an unbeliever. You don’t get to respond in anger when you’ve been wronged. The list goes on.

You may be thinking you’ve already messed up too much...the above list was essentially your biography. Or you may be thinking that there's way too many don’ts to be worth it. To the former, I say, keep reading. To the latter, remember what’s on the other side of the scale –eternal, horrific suffering. Forfeiting some instant gratification and worldly pleasure in this whisper of time we call life is far less egregious than spending eternity in hell. And, like I said before, you don’t have to give up every pleasure. Every good thing is from God –beer, sex, vacations, beauty, wealth. But the way we pursue, use, and spend those good things must honor God.

Please don’t misunderstand me. You cannot save yourself by obedience. Paul told the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). But your works, your obedience, are the evidence of your faith (James 2:14-26). God doesn’t expect His children to be perfect, but He does expect us to be faithful. And in that we forego those behaviors that blaspheme Christ's work on the Cross. Obedience is a response to grace. It’s a response to the Cross. We obey out of humble gratitude. Like the prostitute who wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair, those who are forgiven much, love much. We can love because we’ve been so loved. We express our love in obedience.