Mark 8: 36-37

Teresa Phillips

'What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?'
(Mark 8: 36-37)

What a personal challenge this has been to me. So much so, I feel I have to share it with you.

There is nothing, or no-one on this earth, that is worth more than the salvation of your soul. Everything, and everyone on this earth, as it is, passes away in a mere flicker of time. So why do we sometimes base our lives upon these things as if the salvation of our souls depended on it?

What do we fill our days up with? Being with friends, shopping, playing sport, watching a film, being with someone we love, working, eating, walking, cleaning, sorting our finances out, sleeping, reading, listening to music, relaxing.. are these bad things? No. Will they make you go to hell? No. Does God disapprove of these things? No. So what's the problem?

God loves us to live our lives fully. He delights in our love for one another. He likes to see us happy. But the problem comes when we fix our eyes on the earthly, not the heavenly.

How do we fix our eyes on the heavenly?

1. Putting God first:
Someone once asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is. He answered,
'"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment.' (Matthew 22: 37-38). Love God before you love your family, partner and friends.

2. Loving God and obeying Him:
In the scripture mentioned above, Jesus mentions loving God. To love God is to obey Him (see 1 John 5: 3).

3. Recognise that there is only one way to eternal life:
There's a Doug Horley song I know that goes like this: (I love it!) You won't get to heaven on the back of a camel, you won't get to heaven on a sheep! It's a kids song, and its funny, but so true! It is God's grace, not anything else, at all, that gets us into heaven (see John 3: 16 and many, many more verses). Your partner, your job, your nice garden, your CDs, and your favourite type of pizza, aint gonna get you into heaven.

So... heaven is an eternal place. Your 70 or so years on this planet are relatively gone in a blink of God's gi-normous eye. So, you want to gain the whole world, have as much good stuff as you can in this life? Family, kids, good job, good friends, lots of laughter, love and good food? Great. But remember what comes first. Remember all this stuff doesn't get you there. There's only one way, and it's up to you and me to make sure we follow that way.