The Bible asks the Question
The Bible asks the question, “What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36)
In other words, the value of a man’s soul far exceeds the value of the entire world. How much money is there in this world? I don’t know. But a report I read recently placed the wealth of the world for the year 2001 at over 47 trillion dollars! I read another report that calculated the possible wealth of Iraq over the next hundred years based on known oil reserves to have a potential of 7,500 trillion dollars in wealth. The real answer is that no one really knows. But just imagine if you owned the entire world and the combined wealth of all the corporations and countries on planet Earth. Even if you did, all this wealth would fall short of the value of one man’s soul.
It’s rather amazing that something we can’t see is worth more than the entire wealth of the world! Since a man’s soul is worth more than all the wealth of this world, we cannot place a price tag on a man’s soul. We can’t place a dollar amount on your soul. I know this sounds ludicrous. How can something that is invisible be worth that much? Well, it is. It isn’t what you know or what you have acquired that counts. Solomon, the great king of Israel, was the wisest and the richest man who ever lived and he came to this conclusion;
Ec 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ec 2:9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
Ec 2:10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
Ec 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Ec 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ec 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
You can spend your whole life seeking fame and fortune, Solomon did. But when he came to the end of it all, he simply said it was all in vain. You will never have the wisdom or the riches of Solomon. He had it all. In fact, all he desired to do while he was alive he did because there was no one to say no to him. And after a life spend on pleasure and seeking more pleasure, he said it was all vanity. To paraphrase Solomon, he said, “It’s all in vain. Everything I did and everything I got, it was all in vain. It’s all empty. I am empty.” Solomon declared the world left him empty. The world will leave you empty if you seek after it. What was the conclusion? He said to fear God and obey Him.
Jesus Christ gave us the answer. In Matt 6:25-34 he tells us the secret of life. Guess what? His answer lines up with Solomon’s answer! Seek God, seek the kingdom of God and seek His righteousness and then all the things (we seem to worry about) will be added to us.
In other words, the value of a man’s soul far exceeds the value of the entire world. How much money is there in this world? I don’t know. But a report I read recently placed the wealth of the world for the year 2001 at over 47 trillion dollars! I read another report that calculated the possible wealth of Iraq over the next hundred years based on known oil reserves to have a potential of 7,500 trillion dollars in wealth. The real answer is that no one really knows. But just imagine if you owned the entire world and the combined wealth of all the corporations and countries on planet Earth. Even if you did, all this wealth would fall short of the value of one man’s soul.
It’s rather amazing that something we can’t see is worth more than the entire wealth of the world! Since a man’s soul is worth more than all the wealth of this world, we cannot place a price tag on a man’s soul. We can’t place a dollar amount on your soul. I know this sounds ludicrous. How can something that is invisible be worth that much? Well, it is. It isn’t what you know or what you have acquired that counts. Solomon, the great king of Israel, was the wisest and the richest man who ever lived and he came to this conclusion;
Ec 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ec 2:9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
Ec 2:10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
Ec 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Ec 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ec 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
You can spend your whole life seeking fame and fortune, Solomon did. But when he came to the end of it all, he simply said it was all in vain. You will never have the wisdom or the riches of Solomon. He had it all. In fact, all he desired to do while he was alive he did because there was no one to say no to him. And after a life spend on pleasure and seeking more pleasure, he said it was all vanity. To paraphrase Solomon, he said, “It’s all in vain. Everything I did and everything I got, it was all in vain. It’s all empty. I am empty.” Solomon declared the world left him empty. The world will leave you empty if you seek after it. What was the conclusion? He said to fear God and obey Him.
Jesus Christ gave us the answer. In Matt 6:25-34 he tells us the secret of life. Guess what? His answer lines up with Solomon’s answer! Seek God, seek the kingdom of God and seek His righteousness and then all the things (we seem to worry about) will be added to us.
posted by Pastor Ken at 9:57 AM
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