But Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go (enter) into peace [in freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin]. – Luke 7:50, Amplified Bible

I remember learning on the first day of Economics 101 class in college the following truth of life: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. No matter how “free” you think something is, it really isn’t free. You pay for everything in some form or fashion, whether it be with money, with your time, or with some other sort of sacrifice.

Sin is no exemption from this truth, for sin has many costs. The glutton suffers the distresses of ill health and financial woe resulting from lack of self-control. The sluggard suffers the distress of poverty resulting from poor stewardship of both time and money. The proud suffers the distress of constant conflict with both God and man. The sexually immoral person suffers the distresses of disease and of guilt. The drunkard suffers the disresses of ill health, loss of relationships with family and friends, and loneliness. And, of course, the ultimate price of sin is the distress of the second death: eternal punishment and separation from the Creator.

In Luke 14:28-30, Jesus pointed out how foolish it is to begin building a house without first counting the cost. Yet, Christians and the unsaved alike build spiritual houses of sin every day with little or no consideration for what it is costing them personally. Eventually, these buildings will collapse under the weight of their own wickedness, never to be finished.

There is only one spiritual house worth building, and there is only one spiritual house that we will ever see finished – the house that Christ has built for us. The only thing that house cost us is the repentance of our sins. From there, Christ bore all the cost as well as all the burden of construction. Because of Him, we have a home awaiting us in Heaven. And, if we’ll obey Him in this life, we’ll have an earthly home filled with heart peace – a home free from the distresses of sin – no matter how easy or how hard our outward circumstances are.