Where's the profit?
Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV)
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Jesus asks two questions in this verse. This is a verse that is very relevant to the headlines in the paper that so often appear, headlines that tell of another famous or wealthy person passing away. I think of the sudden death of people like the pop genius Michael Jackson, a man who seemed to the world to have everything that others wanted but, it seems, did not really enjoy them or count them as what he needed for a successful life. The truth remains concerning the applause, the fame, and the money that none of these things could be compared as a good exchange for his eternal soul. We can of course hope that he had an encounter with God in his last days because the thought of a lost eternity is just so very sad. There are just no words to express the horrors of such a fate.
Question One
What will it profit you if you manage to gain the whole world yet lose your soul?
Short term success (this life alone) is really not success at all. God wants our lives to have influence and success here on earth but also, and more importantly, success that goes beyond the grave. To one day stand in eternity before God, justified and forgiven by the perfect work of Christ, is man's greatest success and nothing you can earn or achieve in this realm of life could ever be a good exchange for that. To hear the Father say to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant", is the accolade above all others.
Life lesson: Live to experience the promised success of God in this life but also live in the light of eternity, knowing that all of us one day will pass from what we know to what we have not yet experienced (heaven for the believer). What may profit us here could leave us bankrupt there!
Question two:
What will a man give in exchange for his soul?
The answer is nothing! No thing is that valuable and don't ever be deceived by momentary wealth, success, or fame because they are never enough to qualify for the exchange of your saved, redeemed, God-forgiven soul.
Live for more than the momentary success this life can offer. Live to know the eternal prosperity available only in Christ!
Mark 8:36-37 (The Message)
What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
Andy
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