One way to evaluate how important something is to us is to ask how much we are willing to pay for it. For example, we might really like a particular piece of furniture. It would look very nice in our home. But however nice it may look and however much we want it, we will not purchase it because it is too expensive. In other words, it is not important enough to us for us to pay the cost. We would consider purchasing it only if the seller reduced the price to the point where it became more important to us to have the furniture than the money it costs to obtain it.
Money is not the only way to measure how important something is to us. Another way to determine how important something is, is how much we are willing to suffer for it. For example children are important to their parents. We know this because most parents are willing to suffer a great deal for their children. They sacrifice much to protect their children or to give them a better life.
This is also a good way to evaluate how strong our convictions and beliefs are. How much are we willing to suffer for them? Paul wrote, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5 NIV) We know that these truths really were important to Paul because he repeatedly put his life on the line to testify about them. Are they important enough to us that we are willing to die for them rather than deny them?
There is another aspect to this. The book of Hebrews says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:2-4 NIV)
How important is holiness and righteousness to us? How important to us is our relationship to God? Are we willing to go as far as to shed our own blood if that is what it takes to resist temptation and sin, or is the pleasure we get from sin more important to us? We have God’s promise that no temptation will ever become too strong for us (1 Corinthians 10:13) but how important is avoiding sin to us?
We are important enough to Jesus that He bled to redeem us from sin and restore our relationship to God. Is our relationship with Him important enough that we are willing to bleed for it? Are we willing to bleed if that is what it takes to avoid sin?