Every now and then we get a pamphlet in the mail asking if we are thinking of selling our house. They say that they have clients wanting to buy in our area! They will come and give us a free appraisal of our property, they say, hoping we will take them up on it.
They say that it is every young married couple’s dream to own their own home, and if we manage to save up enough for our deposit, it is a real thrill when we are finally given the key to our new place! We say we own this or that. But whatever we own, really owns us! If we have a car we have to service it regularly. If we own a house we have to keep it maintained or it loses its value. If we buy a lawn mower, we have to use it or the place soon looks untidy. . As time goes by and we might need to move away, we put our house up for sale. We wonder then how much our house is worth, but it is only worth as much as someone will pay for it!
Maybe we only own something small like a mobile phone. It has to used responsibly or else it controls us! How many people do we see walking down the street not watching where they are going because their fingers are busily going on their gadget. They feel lost without having it in their pocket or hand. We don’t own these things, they own us!
But you know, we all have something that is worth much more than any house or gadget. This is our soul, that we are each given at our first breath. This is the part of a person that lives for ever….every new born baby has this in them, and it will never die….our bodies may die, but our souls never will.
The Bible asks the question….”What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” Nothing in this world, whether it be a house or a car; a mower or a phone is to be compared with a person’s soul. These “things” only last a short while….they either break down or become out-dated, but our soul will last forever!
Let’s make sure that we take the time to think these things through and make the right decision about what we put first in our life. How much is your soul valued at? What is it worth? We are told in the Bible about a man who gathered as much of this world’s goods that he could. Most people would have classed him as a very successful and wealthy man. But one night, God said, “This night your soul is required of you, and what is going to happen to all your wealth now?” We never know when some disease will overtake us, or if we might have a sudden car accident that will result in our death, so it pays to look into these things and get ready for the “trip” at the end of our life! We can find out all we need to know from God’s Word, the Bible, and the best place to start reading it is the Gospel of John, the fourth book in the New Testament.
