(This is something I wrote from awhile back)

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

~ Mark 8:35-36 ~

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

~ Matthew 6:21 ~

In this day and age, especially here in America, it has become very easy to gain the whole world and to forget the importance of our soul and salvation.  Here, we are blessed.  We can have so many new and nice things like cars and clothes, books and computers, houses and household items, friends and pets, and just about anything else  you could imagine.  If you are tired with something one day, you can get something new the next.  And we do this with everything.  We can have almost anything we want when we want it.  We can gain “the world” in our minds at our first wish.

When one seems to have gained the world, sometimes they gain the people in the world as well, but only for a time. For even then, they will put you away when they are done with you and also, you may put them away in the same manor.  But yet we still try to win the approval of the world.  You can become highest in everyone’s sight, but once you are gone, that is it.  And no one remembers who you were or what you did.  This is gaining the world today.

But as it says in the Scriptures “for what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul?” What does it profit us to gain the attention of everyone? We have it for a time, and then it is gone, like a vapor.  Here one day, and gone the next.  What do we think we could possibly gain?

I think most of the time, it happens just for mere enjoyment.  We love the attention and we love to be in control of so much.  Even if it is just small things we own.  But when we think that we control it all, it becomes our idol.  And everything focuses on it.  We try to fill a void of God at times because we aren’t looking for Him.

But once we are gone, everything we have here stays behind. We can’t take it with us.  And we obviously can’t stay behind to keep it.  And if it took the place of God while we were here, what happens when we meet Him face to face? That void will be there again, only this time, it will be filled by nothing, for there is no turning back.  And that is how we lost our soul to the world.

So why dwell on the earthly, when the eternal reaps such better rewards? When take the temporary, when we could have the forever? But now, if we think about it, where is our treasure? In heaven, or on earth?  I cannot say that my treasure has always been in heaven, but instead has been on earth.  And its dimness had overclouded the heavenly light.  But now I see that this ‘treasure’ is only temporary, no matter how special.  And that once my focus is back to Christ, I can see the true purpose and truth once again.

For what shall it profit a person to gain this world? Temporary pleasures that are gone in an instant, even if not seen at first.

What if he loses his own soul? His life eternal in heaven with Jesus.

For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.

But we are not the only ones who need to hear this. Once we have seen where we have fallen short and have overcome it with God’s help, we must also share this truth with others. Even if it is not with this that we start.  For we are not the only souls that are in need of Salvation.  So shall you with me share this Eternal Treasure that has been revealed to us? Shall we strive to lose our life here so we with others can find it with Christ?

~ Rose

November 9, 2011