Bible Verse of the Day Wednesday June 14th, 2023

Mark 8:36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

Humans run after many things in the world. However, everything in the world is temporary. When we draw our last breath, a bank account filled with millions of dollars is worthless. Owning sprawling mansions, luxurious limousines, and having all the prestige that money can buy will be useless when this life is over. The only treasure of lasting value is a relationship with God and a surrendered life, heart, and soul to the one who gave his life for us on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus had the opportunity to gain all the world's riches, and all He had to do was kneel and worship Satan (Luke 4:5-8). However, He found victory in His obedience to the plan the Father had laid out for Him. Incredibly, the people that choose to live that way before our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, are always happy. Surrendering our lives to Jesus and the cause of spreading His gospel to a lost, dark, and dying world does not take our lives away; it brings about a life we could never even imagine. Let us not lose our eternal lives with the creator of all in heaven and on earth, searching for things that are not eternal and lasting.

Nothing in this life or the life to come is more valuable than our souls. To bargain that away for some temporary fleeting nuggets of gold embodies foolishness. We must be willing to sacrifice all worldly possessions to follow Jesus. Esau loathed his birthright and sold it to his brother for a bowl of stew. Judas sold out His Savior and lost eternal life for a few pieces of silver. Demas loved this world more than eternal life and forsook the ministry. All these men believed that they were gaining something; however, in the end, they lost everything.

This rhetorical question posed by Jesus is the context of the idea of the value of our eternal life being unknown in this life. Rejecting Jesus for a few pieces of silver might mean some temporary gain in this life, but Jesus is letting us know in no uncertain terms that there is nothing more valuable than our eternal life with the one that made it possible.