The Fine Print of Worldly Living
week in review for the week ending june 29, 2025
“Who are you then?”
"I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part
There is no fine print with the Divine. G-d makes it all clear up front. The adversary does not. When you sign contracts with the adversary, you must read the find print. There is no free lunch, said the well known economist Milton Friedman. Reader, word.
What is the right path and moral good worth to you?
Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
The heart is the seat of intentionality, the core of personhood. The things you say can defile your heart. Reader, reader remember that from a few weeks ago? What would you give to guard your heart? What’s the cost of doing the right thing? Would you give your soul to gain the world? Would you, like Faust, sell your soul to the devil for a worldly objective? When I was a crackhead 15 years ago, it felt like my soul flew from my lips every time I pressed them against my pipe and inhaled the poison that tried to kill my lungs. In retrospect, it felt like the most horrifying pleasure I ever sought and experienced.
This week Pastor Jeremy preached on Matthew 16: 24-28. He called his sermon Not in the Fine Print. Below you’ll find a transcript of Pastor Jeremy’s sermon, and below that you’ll find the Bible passage, and below that, the YouTube video of last Sunday’s sermon. Pastor Jeremy gave a spiritual cost-benefit analysis of following Jesus. Reader, in many cases limits = love, dissent = love. I’ve written about this many times before, it’s a core of my philosophy, an important part of how I choose to live my life.
Matthew 16:24-28
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Pastor Jeremy lists 3 things we gain when we choose to follow Jesus.
Discover true joy
Save our soul
Learn to live with intention
“The next thing that we gain is that we save our soul. Verse 26, one of the most famous words of Jesus. “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” You may be watching the news and on the news there are some famous people, some billionaires who are having a marriage ceremony in Italy. I learned that the cost of this is about $50 million. 1.5 of those million were spent on roses alone.
This is all over the media these days.You see the most richest and famous people in the world being invited to this wedding. And many people can look at that and say, wow, that is the pinnacle of what it means to succeed in life. Many people are striving to be in a moment like that, where they can gain riches and fame and money and comfort and pleasures.”
Some readers might remember the catchy Toby Mac song from 15 years ago. I heard it often because I spent the latter half of 2010 in a faith-based recovery house, cleansing my life from a debilitating crack cocaine smoking obsession. We only listened to Christian music in the recovery house. We attended a gospel blues concert, for the price of volunteering. In addition, a few local Christian musicians gave their time to play concerts for us, as a service to the Abbotsford community and, in particular, the addiction recovery community in the Fraser Valley.
Reader, we all know the drill of discipline and sacrifice. We know the cost of investing in our future, whether through study, healthy living through exercise, quitting smoking, cutting down on sugary snacks and carbs. We know the cost of giving birth to ourselves, throughout life. We know the cost of choosing The Road Less Travelled. We know the cost of doing the right thing. Many readers and followers know the terrible experience of Cancel Culture. Standing up for truth and moral rightness and for humanity has cost people their job, career, social standing, sometimes their home, their relationship, even their emotional wellbeing and peace of mind.
So, on Sunday, Pastor Jeremy gave his sermon about this, the cost of following goodness—the cost of following Jesus.
In the Bible passage Jesus refers to “ the cross”. To a Jewish person of that era, the cross represented a horrific means of execution which the Romans, Greeks, and Persians used against their subjects on their occupied imperial lands. Many modern day Christians wear the cross without thinking fully about its historical significance.
The crucifixion of Jesus indicates that, in Roman eyes, he was a traitor. Jesus had preached a kingdom that was not Rome. Rome had done this with many 'messianic firebrands' leading up to the Great Jewish Revolt of 66 CE. When Rome convicted a rebel, the punishment included a ban on any funeral rituals. This meant that the victim would be forever caught between the living and dead in Hades. The victims, like those of Crassus, hung on the crosses until the vultures finished them; the bones were simply thrown into a nearby ditch for the feral dogs. Crucifixion and arena victims in Rome were simply dragged and thrown into the Tiber. —Rebecca Denova, 12.5.2022, World History
We use the word crucify in the vernacular when we talk metaphorically about persecution. Those severely punished by present day Cancel Culture might find relatable the idea of crucifixion. Or we might find other similes or metaphors to describe the persecution of cancellation by the progressive nihilistic narcissists. My friend
recently quipped on Facebook that he felt as though Dostoevsky had begun narrating his life these past few years. We do encounter evil in this life, we face demoniacs, only extreme ideologies possess these individuals, not biblical demons in the traditional sense. Perhaps we can liken the extreme revolutionary progressive to the heard of swine in the story of the Gaderene Demonaic? It’s all part of a very powerful and at times involuntary deconstruction, isn’t it?
So, to stand up for moral goodness, to follow Jesus, to do G-d’s will (choose your description, reader) maybe means carry your cross and all that this entails.
Crimes by slaves were punished by crucifixion. There was a tacit assumption that a slave was more treasonous than others. Roman law stated that if a slave killed a master or mistress, the entire household of slaves had to be crucified on the premise that none of them revealed the plot, so it must have been a conspiracy. Often considered a waste of resources and property by some, this type of execution was rare. — Rebecca Denova, 12.5.2022, World History
So, reader, you stood up for moral rightness, you dissented, you fought against the progressive demonaics, and they punished you. Was it worth it? Reader, only you know the answer to that question for yourself.
Pastor Jeremy talks about the fact that a man wears the same clothes for a wedding as for a funeral. The reason being that getting married requires the death of parts of oneself to embrace a commitment to lifelong companionship. The cost of entry seems high, and those who pay the high cost discover the high value of the dividends we receive. Choosing to follow the path of goodness and moral rightness does cost. We make sacrifices for the things we value.
We make sacrifices to guard our heart, to keep our soul safe from harm. Think of your heart as the temple where your soul lives. The Hebrew word for soul is נֶפֶשׁ Nephesh. It comes from נֶפַשׁ Nephash which means to breath. The breath of g-d gives us life, which we call the soul.
Read the fine print. Consider the cost of worldly pleasure and narcissistic glory. Remember that a fleeting moment of pleasure can cost years of horrible damnation, maybe an eternity.
Pascal Robinson-Foster learned about the cost of giving into narcissistic and hateful whims. The rap artist who calls himself Bob Vylan called for “death to the IDF” on stage at the Glastonbury Festival. He finds himself under investigation by Avon-Somerset Police. He finds himself dropped by his talent agency, and he finds his American visa for his upcoming American tour cancelled. Effectively he sort of trashed his career prospects for a moment of lustful vengeance. Was it worth it, I wonder?
Last week here at Adventures of Bad Hijabi I wrote one missive — about antisemitism.
For the New Westminster Times, I wrote about The Hijacking of Harm Reduction.
This is a big piece. Will digest further but thanks for the mention.