soul value

For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Mark 8:37

This world offers lots of cheap options to sell out a soul. It is a bad gamble, a losing proposition, and a rotten deal every time. And yet most people will live, and sadly, die, having sold their souls at a steep loss. The world will not offer anything near the soul’s eternal value. Fleeting moments cannot equal the permanence of eternity with Jesus!

Here are some of the cheap plastic knock-off trinkets the world wants to offer for our souls:

“Power” or “Prestige”. But it really isn’t! Let the buyer beware. The world offers AAA battery voltage compared to the unfathomable power of God in Christ that created, sustains, and fills the universe! And political power (despite yesterday’s outcomes)? A burnt matchstick in comparison to the power of God!

Pleasure. This is the most alluring trade off from what we see displayed by the world system. People easily think that the goal of all life is physical ease and pleasure. But sin corrupts all good pleasures when it makes its offer! God provides pleasures forevermore at His right hand. And age and decay do not diminish the pleasures of desiring God and enjoying His gifts!

Worldly wealth. There is no lasting treaure in this world. Jesus calls us to lay up treasure in heaven. But the world offers empty property deeds and bank accounts that will drain dry… and honestly, it will all burn away to make way for Christ’s rule in a new heavens and a new earth!

The world will cheat us! Satan will try to deceive us. We need to heed Jesus’ warning to take up a cross (something this world considers repulsive and will NEVER truly value) and follow Him (Mark 8:34-36). That is the real value. This is the true reward. I am banking on it!

nothing without love

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:2

I am nothing without love.

It does not matter if I spoke every language in earth or in heaven.

If I didn’t have love, I’d be all noise and no substance… just a clang hanging in the air with no meaning.

I am nothing without love.

What would it benefit me to have the deepest insights into the meaning of everything?

To delve the depths of theology or science without love is trivial.

I am nothing without love.

I could have all the wealth possible to gain in this world and then I could just give it all away.

I could donate every organ in my body to sick people, but giving my life away without love is absolutely pointless.

I need love.

I need to be loved by God Who gave His only Son, loving this broken and sinful world AND a broken and sinful me.

I need to be loved by and with those who are transformed by the love of Christ.

I need to be loved by a wife who loves me like the Church love Jesus… if I could just love her like Christ loves us. Love’s beauty lives in that mystery.

I need to love.

I must be patient. I must be kind. I must not envy others. I must not boast in pride. I must lay down my insistence that life always go my way. I must bypass irritations and my tendency toward resentment. I must celebrate the truth over my own perceived gains. 

I need to love by bearing hard things, believing the best when the worst happens, always hoping, committed to enduring through the power of the gospel.

I can be something in that love!

heart target

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him… all these evil things come from within and they defile a person.”

Mark 7:20, 23

My problems may be aggravated or occasioned by external circumstances, but externals are never the real problem. People don’t “make” me anger or cause me to lose control or are to blame for my unhappiness! Other people or their actions may be the circumstances to my problem, but Jesus is very clear that what comes out of my own heart under external pressure is the real issue for me to understand.

Jesus says even the wrong in my actions has its origin “out of the heart of man” (Mark 7:21). From the heart these actions flow. And Jesus does not mince words… He names the worst external sins ALONGSIDE external sins and equates them as equally evil! Look at the list in Mark 6:21-22:

• evil thoughts (internal)
• sexual immorality (external)
• theft (external)
• murder (external)
• adultery (external)
• coveting (internal)
• wickedness (internal)
• deceit (internal and external)
• sensuality (internal and external)
• slander (external)
• pride (internal)
• foolishness (internal and external)

The heart (a term that is biblical shorthand for the inner person composed of mind, will, intellect, emotions, thoughts, intentions, motivations, etc) is the source of my problems. My responses flow from my heart, and when sin or selfishness rule my heart, I shrink everything down to a micro-kingdom of one and then I sin. And in Jesus’ words, I am then “defiled” by my own sin that came from a defiled heart.

Thank God, Jesus is in the heart-replacement business! He renews minds (Romans 12:1-2)! He helps us put off from our hearts what is evil and put on what is good (Ephesians 4:18-32; Colossians 3:1-17)! He fulfills the promise of the New Covenant by giving us new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26-27). His Word and Holy Spirit guide us in all truth so that we can have good things flow from within our hearts and out into a new life (John 16:13).

obedience from the heart

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:17-18

Everyone is a slave to something. Everyone has a master. This is a slavery that rises up from our deepest desires. We want and so we serve until we are enslaved. And although such a truth is unpopular in our culture, the actual condition is, slavery is the natural born state of every person on the planet. In gospel terms, we are either the slave of sin by birth, bound to do wrong with sin mastering us, or we are slaves of righteousness with Jesus as our new Master. Everyone is a slave.

This truth is visible every day. In fact, even for those of us who by grace have believed the gospel, remnants of sin’s shackles still show us just how real sin’s slavery is. We see it all around us. This world is a miserable plantation under the ownership of a sinful system of ungodly taskmasters who gleefully dominate people under sin, controlled by Satan’s cruel hatred for all the good that God has done.

What do slaves do? Paul is very simple yet profound: slaves obey their masters. And we will either obey sin or obey righteousness. But from the heart, the slaves of righteousness have a new way to obey. We have the teaching of the gospel and the example/call of Jesus that is modeled for us to follow. We are committed to that standard. A slave can choose to obey by outward conformance only, but that is not how we are slaves to righteousness. We willingly obey from a transformed heart. We are set free from sin’s absolute control of our hearts, and now we are willing slaves to a good and loving Master… Jesus Christ the Righteous! Serving with obedience to the gospel from our hearts, we find joy in the tasks that Jesus gives us… His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It is a joy to be Christ’s slaves. It is what we were made for!

tear them down

Because they do not regard the works of the LORD

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

Psalm 28:5

There is an end coming for those who mock God, disregard the work of God, and refuse to bow to Him. And this psalm, in worship, acknowledges the power of God over wicked people who reject Him. God will tear them down and see that they are never built up again. It is a truth that keeps our perspective in proper place.

Why do we fret over evildoers? Why do we act as if there is never going to be justice? Why do Christians get so worked up over social issues, political actions, and place stock in flawed, sinful leaders? It’s one thing to have a desire to shine the light of God’s holiness and truth. It is quite another to focus solely on the prosperity of the wicked and pour our energies into using the world’s means for flawed “solutions” that ultimately fail. We need this high view of God’s justice and judgment illuminating our view of the world as we live in human created institutions. David reminds us in this psalm that there is no way that wickedness wins! God will tear them down. God will not let them rebuild. God is in control. Will we trust that He’s got it all under His plan and power?

I’m convinced Johnny Cash is a better theologian in this matter with these thoughts:

You can run on for a long time

run on for a long time

run on for a long time

sooner or later God’ll cut you down

sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Go tell that long tongue liar

God tell that midnight rider

tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

mustard seed kingdom

…yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Mark 4:32

One small seed planted in the garden

became a sprout, then a

seedling, then matured and grew.

Don’t underestimate what one small seed will do.

Mustard seeds surprise you!

One gospel conversation planted in a soul

may germinate in the heart, take

root, and then with faith will grow.

Don’t think the gospel is too slow.

It will spread wide before you know.

One new Christian placed in the position

where Jesus can shine bright

will be used in God’s situation.

Don’t think it a weird aberration

that one person could sway a nation.

A David or a Daniel or a Paul

can be planted by God’s hand

carefully watered, nurtured in God’s field.

Don’t give up on what God has healed…

A massive kingdom will be the yield!

the extent of His voice

The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;

the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

Psalm 29:8

Over half of this psalm is caught up in the power and majesty of the voice of the Lord as reflected by God’s power over the natural and the political world. It can be charted like this:

So looking at the poetry, what point is being made? It extols the powerful, impressive, and fearful voice of God and ends in worship. People cry out “Glory!” in God’s temple (which did not yet exist when David wrote this psalm). It is somewhat prophetic, perhaps a glimpse into eternity in God’s new temple. Every image is about three things: 1) The exclusivity of the voice of the Lord. When God speaks it is a unique experience attributed only to Him. 2) The power of the voice of the Lord. It is both destructive and, depending upon how the Hebrew reads in verse 9 (ie “deer gives birth”) creative in expression. 3) The rule of the voice of the Lord is global: It extends from Lebanon (north) to Kadesh (south) and embraces all people, coming from God enthroned as King over all forever (Psalm 29:10).

Lord,

You are in control. Your voice rules the world, still echoing across the universe You created as You thunder over wilderness, shake the forests and the cities, send the floods, and yet keep Your creation in Your care. May Your mighty power continue to be made known now in the voice of Your saving love AND Your impending justice is here now in the voice of Jesus for Your glory, O King!

Amen