Matthew
16:24-26 (NIV) 24 Then Jesus said to
his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For
whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for
me will find it. 26 What good will it be
for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone
give in exchange for their soul?
What is the soul that Jesus speaks of here? Certainly it is not an
organ of the body. It is not physical or material at all. The soul is an
invisible, intangible part of us that is present in our life and is a very real
part of us. When we die everything material and physical about us dies and
decays, but the soul survives. The word soul
translated in both the Old and New Testaments can be translated as life.
The soul is a vital force, but when the soul is spoken of in the Bible
it means a vital force that produces a certain quality of life in a person. The
soul produces a broad and all encompassing quality of life that is difficult to
describe but that is instinctively recognized. It allows for living life seeing
the majesty and beauty in nature, of seeing children as the very crown of
creation rather than as a continual nuisance. The state of the soul is the
difference in finding life an endless treadmill of boredom or finding life an
unfolding adventure of excitement. The soul is the source of valuing honesty
and truthfulness. The soul produces quality of life that is so easily recognized
as the real life, a good life, a desirable life.
How can our soul be lost? Is Jesus talking about the way we can lose
our opportunity for eternal life? Is He asking what good is it for us to get
rich then to lose it all when we die and then to spend eternity in hell? He may
be talking about the loss of our soul at death and to eternity, but I also hear
Him talking about the way we can lose our souls here and now, by devoting too
much time, attention, and effort to gain the tangible, touchable, temporary
things of this world while neglecting the life of our soul. Without the
continual reminder from the church and Christian family of the importance of
nurturing our souls any of us could sell out and pay a top price for the
temporary things of this world.
If Jesus is talking about the way we can become so caught up in the
drive and desire for the things of this world that we lose the unique quality
of life that only the soul can produce, then He is speaking to a very real
temptation in my life. How about you? What price are we willing to pay for
success? For security? For material comfort? Are we willing to pay more than
these things are worth? That is the kind of question I hear Jesus asking. He is
not opposed to our having these things. On the contrary, He wants us to be
successful, to be secure and comfortable in His world. But He does not want us
to pay the price of our own soul, to lose in seeking these things the unique
quality of life that only the well nurtured soul can bring into being.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope 1975
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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