A few days ago during a press conference in the Roosevelt room of the White House, President Biden announced that he was banning all imports of Russian oil and gas into the United States. This action was taken in response to Vladimir Putin’s recent decision to launch a war against Ukraine, a decision that has inflicted profound misery on millions of people. By targeting a ”major artery of the Russian economy,” Mr Biden is hoping that this latest action will force Mr. Putin to end the war. Whether that will happen remains uncertain.

What is certain is that the war across the ocean is affecting the entire globe. In America, we are feeling the economic impact at the gas pump. Since the war began on February 24, the price of a barrel of crude oil has skyrocketed.

The graph above charts the price of a barrel of crude oil over the past year. As you can see, the price is now more than $100. The increased price of oil is the primary driver of the increased price of gas—because crude oil is the primary ingredient in gas. If oil goes up, gas goes up. Gas prices had already increased significantly. Now that Russia’s oil is not available, the price will will go up even higher. Why? Because there is less supply. When supply does down, the price goes up. So much for the economics lesson LOL.

I am sharing this bit of news for two reasons. First, it has reminded me of what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said:

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. 

There is no such thing as “those people over there.” We are all connected. And if you ever doubted that fact, just go to a local Costco and see how long the lines are for gas. What is happening in Ukraine affects what happens in Upland. We truly do live in a global village. Second, President Biden said something else that bears mentioning. At that same press conference, he said:

This is a step that we’re taking to inflict further pain on Putin. But there will be costs as well here in the United States. I said I would level with the American people from the beginning. And when I first spoke to this, I said defending freedom is going to cost — it’s going to cost us as well, in the United States.

In other words, helping Ukraine is going to cost us. In the short-term its’ going to cost us higher prices at the gas pump. Long term, who knows what else it may cost. But one thing is certain: we will be unable to stop the war in Ukraine for free. Far too many people labor under the illusion that change can be made without any cost. Far too many people believe that we can “change the world without changing ourselves.” But progress always has a price tag, transformation never goes on sale, and change is expensive.

We even carry this illusion into our understanding of Christianity. But just because salvation is free doesn’t mean it was cheap. Jesus had to die to set us free! Be careful that you don’t become an advocate of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer labeled “cheap grace,” the idea that we can have “forgiveness without repentance, baptism without discipline, and communion without confession.” If you think that the basic idea of Christianity is “I mess up, I ask Jesus to forgive me and off to heaven I go,” you are seriously mistaken. And let me apologize on behalf of all the preachers (me included) who may often give you that impression.

Salvation cost Jesus his life. 2 Corinthians 6:19-20 says:

Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

We should live our lives so people can see God in us! And that is costly! My life should be a reflection of the gratitude I have for the price that he paid. I have a friend whose grandmother purchased him a home when he graduated from high school. He recently received a very lucrative offer from someone to purchase the house, almost 5 times worth is current value. He told me he will never sell the house. Why? Because of the what it cost his grandmother to buy it. The price she paid makes it more valuable than any amount of money that anyone could ever give him. Well, we should view our relationship with God the same way. Saving us cost so much, that there is nothing that we would not do to show God how grateful we are. And that costs.

The truth is anything worth having is going to cost:

It’s going to cost to lose weight.

It’s going to cost to save money.

It’s going to cost to raise your children.

It’s going to cost to read your Bible, pay your tithes, and live a godly life.

It’s going to cost to achieve your dreams.

It may cost an arm, or a leg, or both. But one thing is sure: it won’t be free.