“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
The flight attendant stood to show us passengers how to work oxygen masks. She gestured along with the message that was being played over the plane’s sound system. Few passengers even glanced toward her, and most looked bored or annoyed as she gave potentially life-saving instructions.
I confess that I hadn’t listened carefully until one statement gripped me as never before: “In the event of an actual emergency, leave all belongings…” Leave all belongings. I thought of the items I had brought on board and how unfortunate it would be to have to leave them behind. Then I realized that it would not be worth risking my life for any of them. I silently repeated that statement again and again throughout the flight: “Leave all belongings.”
“Leave all belongings” had been said so casually, but there was nothing casual about a plane falling to the ground or crashing into a mountain. The urgency of eternity, of life and death, of bored passengers suddenly screaming in terror were tied to those words.
The Lord Jesus once asked a crowd, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” He might as well have been addressing passengers on a plane. “What good is it to have lots of stuff if you die and spend eternity in torment? None of the stuff will comfort you in Hell.” Gaining the whole world but losing the soul puts everything into perspective. Having stuff–even “the whole world”--sounds nice. Forfeiting eternal life in order to gain stuff, however, is a horribly high price to pay.
Many of you reading this have placed your trust in Christ. You’re denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Jesus (as Mark 8:34 says). Some of you reading this may have never trusted Christ to save you. You’re not denying yourself, you’re not taking up a cross, and you’re not following Jesus. Christian, enjoy the stuff. Use it. Serve God with it. Serve others with it. Don’t let it distract or consume you, though, because it can easily become an idol. Don’t take my word for it, but take the word of Paul (I Tim. 6:10) and Jesus (Matt. 6:19-34).
Non-Christian, remember that the flight attendant illustrated the matter well. Absolutely nothing is worth clutching to yourself if it means you keep your stuff and lose your soul. Take God’s Word for it. He loves you and wants you for all eternity.
The prophet Isaiah said it well: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6).
