Cheapest and Yet Costliest

HE WAS an Italian immigrant who had settled in the New York metropolitan area. One Saturday afternoon while browsing in a secondhand bookstore he noticed a pile of books on a table being offered for only one cent each. Looking them over he noticed one with a religious title, “The Harp of God,” bought it, took it home and read it. The result? He became so interested in its message that in just a matter of months he took his stand for God, whose name is Jehovah, he was baptized and now for more than twenty years he has been an active and happy Christian witness. All for one cent?

Yes—and no; and here is where it might be said that the truth of God’s Word is, paradoxically, both the cheapest and the most costly commodity on the face of the earth. On the one hand the truth is so cheap that literally no one, child, pauper or invalid, is too poor to procure it. Thus at the Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses, held July 27 through August 3, 1958, anyone could freely attend either Yankee Stadium or the Polo Grounds from morning to night, partaking of the spiritual feast without paying or even being asked to contribute one cent. The same is true of the many thousands of Kingdom Halls throughout the world, at which each week a public Bible lecture and four other religious meetings are held. This very magazine, The Watchtower, has ever been offered freely to all sincere students of the Bible unable to pay the subscription rate. More than that, hundreds of thousands of sincere seekers of Bible truth have weekly studies right in their own homes with no cost to them whatever. Truly the truth is so cheap no one is too poor to obtain it.

At the same time the truth is the costliest article on the face of all the earth; so costly that, by far, most persons are not at all interested in it. How so? To acquire an understanding and appreciation of the truth of the Bible costs, first of all, our time, and time is more valuable than money. It most likely will also cost us certain selfish indulgences, because the effect of the truth is to transform our personality by making our minds over. It obligates us to “strip off the old personality with its practices” and to clothe ourselves “with the new personality which through accurate knowledge is being renewed according to the image of the one who created it.”—Col. 3:9, 10.

More than that, the truth will also cost us popularity. This old world does not like anyone who takes Bible truth seriously. By our very course as well as by our ministerial activity we imply, if not also expressly state, criticism of all who ignore that truth and who live out of harmony with its righteous principles. What was true nineteen centuries ago is true today: “For the time that has passed by is sufficient for you to have worked out the will of the nations . . . Because you do not continue running with them in this course . . ., they are puzzled and go on speaking abusively of you.”—1 Pet. 4:3, 4.

Have we materialistic ambitions in the way of wanting to get rich, own the best of everything in the way of home, automobile, clothes, or achieve fame by excelling in an artistic career? The truth will also cost us these ambitions. It will cause us to appreciate the wisdom of what Paul wrote Timothy: “To be sure, it is a means of great gain, this godly devotion along with self-sufficiency. For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things.”—1 Tim. 6:6-8, 11.

The truth may cost us our freedom, as it did certain Christian witnesses of Jehovah in Shanghai in October, 1958, and as it has cost thousands theirs who reside behind the Iron Curtain. It may even cost us our lives literally, as it has the long line of faithful martyrs from Abel on to Jesus Christ and down to our day. That price may be exacted of us at the hands of a Khrushchev or a Trujillo, or because of our refusal to violate God’s law regarding the sacredness of blood.

Truly the truth is so cheap that no one in all the world is too poor to afford it. At the same time it is the costliest, the most precious thing in all the world, demanding our all to obtain it; thereby making everything else, including life itself, seem cheap by comparison. Why is this so? Because it is God’s truth and he requires of us exclusive devotion: “I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion.” Fittingly therefore the wise inspired writer counsels us: “Buy truth itself and do not sell it.” Be wise by being willing to pay whatever it may cost you to obtain the truth, and once having obtained it and made it your own, do not selfishly and foolishly let it go for anything else in this world.—Ex. 20:5; Prov. 23:23; Heb. 12:16.

But whatever we may have to keep paying for the truth—and it is a continuing matter—it is more than worth it. Why? Because thereby we, first of all, acknowledge our debt of gratitude to our Maker, giving us a clear conscience. Moreover, God’s truth gives us a sure hope of the ultimate triumph of righteousness and of everlasting life in God’s paradisaic new world. It warms and enriches our lives by filling our hearts with love for our heavenly Father and for our fellow man. This, in turn, gives us the impetus, incentive, strength and will to live, work, fight and, if need be, die for that which is most worth while, the cause of Jehovah God. The facts show that those who prize the truth so highly are the happiest people on the face of the earth.

And in addition to all the foregoing, today the hope is set before men of good will who “buy truth itself and do not sell it” that they may never experience death. How so? Because Bible prophecy being fulfilled shows that very near is the time when the following words of Jesus apply in a peculiarly literal manner: “Everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all.”—John 11:26