Mark 8:34-38 NIV
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’”
Now this passage is pretty much the same as the one in Luke 9:23-26, which I mention often, but there is one part of it that I don’t usually talk about, and it is the part that is standing out to me this time as I read this, and so I am going to share whatever the Lord teaches me through it. I don’t usually talk about these two verses:
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
So, what does this mean in all practicality to our lives? What does this look like in the lives of the people to whom it applies? What does it mean to “gain the whole world”? How do we do that? And I am asking myself these questions right now and I don’t yet have an answer. So, I am praying that the Lord will give me understanding here.
One of the things that is coming to my mind has to do with those who want to be liked and accepted by people more than they want to be approved by God. So they will “play it safe” and not say anything that might get them disliked. They won’t “rock the boat,” because it is more important to them that people think well of them than it is for them to follow the Lord in obedience. In that way they are gaining the world’s approval but not God’s approval.
Another thing has to do with living worldly lives and doing the kinds of things the ungodly do. They might be slothful or living to be entertained, and they may spend most of their free time on their own self-interests and not on the interests of God and what he has planned for their lives. They are still lord of their own lives and so they have no room to make Jesus Lord. Everything centers around them and what they want, not what God wants.
And then there are those who are living in deliberate and habitual sin in defiance against the Lord and his commandments (New Covenant). They know right from wrong, so they know they are doing wrong, but they continue to do wrong and not what is right. And yet they claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior and heaven as their eternal destiny. They blend in really well with the world because they are still of the world and not of God.
So, what’s the point here? If we spend our lives for ourselves and for our own selfish and sinful pleasures, then we are forfeiting our souls for eternity, regardless of what faith we profess in Jesus with our lips. For it isn’t lip service to God that secures for us salvation from sin and heaven as our eternal destiny. Yes, by grace we are saved, through faith, which is a gift from God and not of our own doing.
But God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, instructs and trains us to renounce (say “No” to) ungodliness and fleshly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return (Titus 2:11-14). And our faith is gifted to us by God, and comes from God, and it is persuaded by God, for we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ. And so that faith is going to be in accord with God’s divine character and will for our lives.
[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 6:44; Romans 6:1-23]
So, we can’t live our lives for ourselves and our own selfish desires. And we can’t live our lives to gain the approval of other humans. And we can’t live worldly lives, spending our free time on the pleasures of this world, and then expect that God is going to let us into his heaven. For when we live for self and not for God, we are indeed forfeiting our own souls for eternity, and heaven will not be our eternal destiny. So, please take this to heart.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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