True riches

Often, as I read the bible, my mind is captivated by just one verse, just a few words. This morning, as I read, my thoughts paused on these words,

^{Mark 8:36} And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Jesus asked the most amazing questions! It's a question for our culture and time. So, what if you had all the wealth of the world, but it cost you your soul, your eternity, is it worth it? Is it worth having it all for a few short years at the cost of losing everything for eternity? What is true wealth after all? One day all of this will disappear, one day we will die, one day the pleasures we seek so greedily will pass and then begins eternity. Let's see...90 years here vs. eternity.....put them in the scale and let's weigh them. And that's why Jesus asked this profound question that speaks to each heart. What do you value? What's eternally important to you, because we are dealing with eternal decisions.

So, what do you benefit if you gain everything here, but lose your soul? Is it worth the trade? Is the exchange equitable? I don't think so! The exchange rate on this contrast cannot be compared. Would anyone make that foolish trade....to trade eternity for a few short years here of having stuff that will one day burn up? Only a fool would make such a trade, and yet all around us is a world running at full speed to "get stuff."

I think it's time to recalibrate, to change our focus from the stuff of this world to the stuff of eternity. It's a question of values, it's a question that goes to the heart of what we think is important: so what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? It's time to ask ourselves Jesus' question because...if you gain the world, but lose your soul you have lost everything!