Am I entangled in the sunk-cost fallacy?

Last week, I addressed the issue of cost avoidance and, in particular, the natural tendency to avoid the cost of sharing one’s faith. This week, I will consider the role that the “sunk-cost fallacy” can sometimes play in our decision to suppress mentioning our faith and our Christ-led motives. According to Oxford Languages, the sunk-cost fallacy is “the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.”

Here is a commercial example of the sunk-cost fallacy. Suppose the business we lead recently invested a significant amount in a new machine tool in anticipation of a good market for its services. However, the demand doesn’t materialize. After re-assessing the market, we conclude that the investment was a mistake. Unfortunately, the resale value of the used equipment is now significantly less than what we paid. While the most rational decision might well be to liquidate the asset and redeploy the proceeds of disposition, we hold back because of the significant prior investment in the machine tool. 

Specifically, when followers of Jesus are overly fixated on secular management strategies to which they attribute their business success, they can miss out on God’s best for their professional life.

This sunk-cost phenomenon sometimes affects believers. Specifically, when followers of Jesus are overly fixated on secular management strategies to which they attribute their business success, they can miss out on God’s best for their professional life. For example, in light of the secular business environment in which they operate, some believers have chosen to be undercover agents for Jesus to avoid rocking the boat. Thus, they have decided to bear witness to their faith through exemplary moral conduct as well as the way in which they treat other people in their business. However, they are silent as to why they behave the way they do in part because they fear they might undermine their success. 

A friend shared with me the following apocryphal story. A Christian business leader decided to bear witness to his faith along the lines of the previous example. One day, a member of his staff announced he had become a follower of Jesus. When the leader disclosed that he too was a believer, the new Christian’s jaw dropped. Because this leader had never told him why he behaved the way he did, the new believer assumed that it was possible to live a morally good life without God. His words to the leader (paraphrased) should give every believer pause. “You’re the main reason I didn’t come to faith sooner. I assumed your behaviour wasn’t faith-based and, as a result, I didn’t need to consider God because you didn’t appear to need him!”

This leader’s reluctance to move away from his proven success formula prevented him from seeing a different, exciting future built around putting Jesus first. Thus, he missed out on much greater fulfillment than he had yet experienced as an undercover agent. After all, Jesus himself said that he came to give us a rich and fulfilling life. This leader confused the satisfaction he derived from succeeding using secular strategies disconnected from Jesus’ guidance and priorities with the satisfaction that is only possible through complete surrender to Jesus. Finally, per Jesus’ warning, our fruitfulness based upon God’s criteria can be undermined by a preoccupation with worldly issues.

Are you entangled in the sunk-cost fallacy?

Photo by Steve Harvey on Unsplash