The Best Loos in Wiltshire

“The best public toilets in Wiltshire”.

That is how my aunt and uncle described the public loos at Devizes, just to the rear of the market hall. Now frugality is a family trait, so I was not a little surprised that my kinfolk were prepared to spend thirty pence (*cough*, *splutter!*) for the privilege of discharging a bladder or vacating a bowel. I chose to be a better steward of my money, electing not to test their claim, finding instead a suitably sized bush.

I despair of English local councils’ poverty when it comes to maintaining toilets but seemingly limitless resources when it comes to painting rainbow-themed zebra crossings or employing Climate Change Officers. As I awaited my relatives’ return from their luxurious stay in the public lavatories, I pondered the words ‘You pay for what you get’. The phrase implies that if something is cheap, it is because it is not worth very much. If something is expensive, it is because it is dear, and of the highest quality. A richer, older me might one day apply this principle to public conveniences, but that day is not come.

The scriptures repeatedly teach that salvation in Christ is free, yet there is a certain price to pay. The Lord advises in the ninth of Luke:

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." (vv23-24, NKJV)

Although I do not envy the persecuted church, and nor do I crave the day when magistrates and constables again plague our gatherings, I do wonder if we have it too easy. Then again, even pampered Christians in the West are facing more trials and increasing hostility over their views on sexual ethics and personhood. Furthermore, the daily little sacrifices of normal life, especially among the young, such as a refusal to go boozing, be sexually promiscuous or even losing a temper, is a price which saving faith demands. If your Christianity costs you nothing, it is because it is cheap and worthless dross, fit for nothing but a midden heap. If you have paid a price for Christ, it is because you are a shrewd investor, a wise merchant who sees a pearl of great price, and snaps it up.