1 Maccabees 2:27-33: in context

When a wicked king demands that the Jews abandon their faith and law, the priest Mattathias raises a rallying cry. Whoever is zealous for the law and maintains the covenant, he shouts, let him follow me. And then he acts on his words: he and his sons flee into the mountains, leaving behind all that they had in the city. Many others who sought to remain faithful go down into the wilderness with their families and livestock, giving up their homes and possessions rather than compromise their faithfulness to God.

The choice Mattathias and those who followed him made was a costly one. To remain faithful, they had to leave everything: their homes, their possessions, their settled lives in the city, fleeing to the wilderness to live in hardship. They counted faithfulness to God worth more than all they had, and gave up everything rather than compromise. When the choice came down to keeping their possessions by abandoning their faith, or keeping their faith by abandoning their possessions, they chose their faith and left all the rest behind. Their loyalty to God was worth more to them than everything they owned. This confronts us with the cost that faithfulness can require, and the question of what we count it worth. We are not usually asked to flee to the wilderness, but faithfulness to God can still cost us: comfort, advancement, relationships, security, the approval of others. And the question is whether we count faithfulness worth the cost, whether our loyalty to God is worth more to us than what faithfulness might cost us to keep. Mattathias and his followers left all they had rather than compromise; they held faithfulness more precious than their possessions. Everyone who has left houses or lands for my name's sake, Jesus says, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. Faithfulness may cost us, but it is worth the cost. This searches how much we count faithfulness worth. When faithfulness to God costs us something, our comfort, our possessions, our standing, do we count it worth the cost and remain faithful, or do we compromise to keep what faithfulness would require us to give up? Those who fled to the wilderness were people of whom, Hebrews says of such faithful ones, the world was not worthy. They held their loyalty to God above all they had. This calls us to count faithfulness worth its cost. Mattathias and those with him left everything rather than compromise their faithfulness to God, holding loyalty to him more precious than all their possessions. And we too are called to count faithfulness worth whatever it costs, holding our loyalty to God above the comfort, security, or possessions that faithfulness may require us to give up, rather than compromising to keep what we would have to surrender to remain faithful.

When faithfulness to God costs me something, my comfort, my possessions, my standing, or the approval of others, do I count it worth the cost and remain faithful, or do I compromise to keep what faithfulness would require me to give up, and can Mattathias and those who left all they had and fled to the wilderness rather than abandon their faith move me to count faithfulness worth whatever it costs, holding my loyalty to God more precious than all I might have to surrender to keep it?