Have you ever asked yourself if it’s worth it? You look at your life and realize that you try to keep yourself out of trouble. You try to treat people with respect and dignity. You try to stay clear of trouble and put the best construction on everything. You spend time in worship. You read your bible. You try to obey the commandments. But you don’t really seem to be getting anywhere in this world. 

It’s easy to wonder whether it’s really worth it. It’s easy to look at your life and wonder if it’s worth it to keep your hands clean and your heart pure. Recently I stumbled across this verse from Psalm 24 – Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

It may seem like it’s not worth it. It may seem at times like following the teachings of the bible isn’t really getting you anywhere in life. But there’s a bigger reality at play here. We don’t follow Jesus to get ahead in life. We don’t read the bible and attend worship because we want to get ahead. We do it because something has changed in our hearts.

You see the pure hearts and clean hands of which David speaks in Psalm 24 refer to what happens after a life has been changed by faith in Christ. When Christ takes up residence in our lives, or as Eugene Peterson states in the Message paraphrase of John 1 the word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood, something happens. We’re not the same anymore. If this massive transformation happens in our lives, then shouldn’t it show up on the outside? Absolutely.

So is it worth it? When you look around and see people who are getting ahead in life and making a name for themselves but giving no thought to the things of God it can make you question if it’s worth it. But remember what David realized. Remember that clean hands and a pure heart aren’t about getting ahead now but they are marks of a life changed for eternity.

To put it another way, we can build our houses of the most expensive of materials. We can fill our bank accounts with masses of money, the likes of which most people will never see. But if that house is built on a foundation of sand, or our own accomplishments, we can be fairly certain that a storm is coming soon that will erode the sandy foundation and bring our house crashing down.

Friends it is worth it. It is worth the struggle to live a life changed by the gospel. Stay the course. Encourage one another. Sharpen one another. Build one another up in truth of Christ. And one day you’ll see just how worth it that it really is. It’s worth every minute of it!