THE VALUE OF A SOUL
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36
How valuable is a soul? What is your soul worth? Is anything more important than one’s soul? Could we not agree that the condition of our souls should be a definite concern for our lives, as well as our primary interest for our family and friends?
Sometimes we place the least emphasis on the things that deserve the greatest attention. It is quite common to see people washing and waxing their vehicle or mowing their lawn on Sunday morning. They are concerned about the appearance and condition of their earthly possessions, but not about their spiritual being. People spend a great amount of time in grooming and making their wardrobe decisions before going to church, but no time in prayer and surrender of heart before attending the services. It is because the health of the soul is not as much a priority as external things. When attending worship services, some people’s attention is more fixed on physical things than on worshiping God and seeking His face. All of these things point to misplaced priorities.
God says our most valuable possession is our soul. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” A man’s soul is of greater worth than the whole world. What makes a person’s soul so precious? One thing that makes a soul so extremely valuable is its duration. We are going to live somewhere forever. Our spiritual being is eternal, whereas physical and material things are only temporal. Another factor that makes the soul of man so important is the place where that spiritual being will exist forever. Men and women will have an everlasting existence in the bliss of Heaven or in the torment of hell. If a person does not take care of his spiritual need for salvation, he will suffer for that decision forever. Another consideration in computing the worth of a soul is the price that was paid for its redemption. Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten and eternal Son, bled and died that we might spend forever in Heaven.
A lingering look at Calvary’s cross will help us calculate the value of a soul. There is no way to understand the price that our God paid for our salvation. The greatest tragedy is for a person to reject the gift of grace and spiritual blessing that is provided for us through Jesus Christ, and lose his soul.