Promise Series
What is it worth to gain the whole world and lose your soul. What can a man give in exchange for his soul?
What is it worth to gain the whole world and lose your soul essentially is the invitation to be born of God which is to be in the kingdom of God. When we try to defend ourselves, to save our lives we use our own strength. We miss the opportunity of knowing Him. We lose our oil (i).
The Sabbath is the rest of God. It is that time separated to God which no work can be done on it. It is holiness to the Lord. The sabbath in a moment of time is the kingdom of God. A holy rest we enter in a moment of time when we are confronted with a frustration. A holy rest we enter into when we are surrounded by the pressures of life. A holy rest of faith, trust and surrender. Where no work can be done in that moment of time, when we stand in the midst of the storm. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God (i).
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
...a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. This rest in the times past, represented and still does today the physical rest and time of communion with God and the family. Yet the rest we find in Jesus who is the fulfilment (i) of the prophesies came through His Kingdom He has established here on earth. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. A Kingdom we become citizens of when we make the decision to pass from this life and ways we lived once in the world. To a new life and way that we choose to live through Him, His Word and His testimonies that He left for us by His Spirit and through His church He established for this purpose, the second institution (i).
It is in this newly found intimate rest; right before the frustrations, the confrontations, in the silence of that moment in time is where we get to know Him. Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. Instead of seeking our own strength to react, to confront, to defend ourselves. In the quiet, in this rest we wait on Him, on His Spirit. We seek Him in a silent prayer. We are not provoked or undressed before the heat of the moment. In this rest He says be still and know that I am God. Whether we escape to a silent room on our knees in prayer. Or stand in stillness until the storm passes us by
...Submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you. To submit to God is to believe; surrender, forgiveness, patience, long suffering… the fruits of the Spirit. To resist the devil is when we overcome the provocation with peace and self control. When we do not retaliate nor repay evil for evil but with good. When we walk in this way, we walk upon the earth as citizens of the kingdom of God. Awaiting our departure.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
What will a man give...? What can a man give in exchange for his soul? It is like a rhetorical question, like asking yet there is no answer. As in to say the only thing that matters is to prioritise the soul. Yet it is a funny rhetorical question because it is very common practice that the importance care and priority of the soul is very much exchanged with many things today. It is exchanged with money ventures. The care for the soul is exchanged for family affairs. Exchanged for luxury and leisure. So with many things we see the care, investment and value of the soul being acceptably and common place exchangeable by mundane everyday essentials taking precipice. Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
It reminds me of King Saul when he exchanged his soul for his kingdom. After being rebuked by the prophet Samuel he no longer thought it necessary to invest in his communion (i) with God nor sought His council through the prophet Samuel anymore. His heart had been hardened by his own hypocrisy. His crown and kingdom was of more value to the king.
Yet Jesus asked what will a man give in exchange for his soul? It is such a paradox as the Lord Jesus Himself gave His life as the lamb (i) of God for each and every soul. An offering prepared for all mankind to find redemption through Him, to those who would believe. Jesus asked the question yet He paid the price.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life
And what can we give? What can we give in exchange for our souls. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will find it. Our lives. This is the baptism in waters and also the Holy Spirit. When we deny ourselves pick up our cross and follow Him we are choosing to share this intimacy and communion with the Lord Jesus. We enter His rest. In that moment in that silence is where we get to know Him. We choose to follow the Way and Truth He laid out for us. We walk upon the Earth in the kingdom of God, we enter the Garden once again in that little decision; we undo, deny and reject the curse of Adam and Eve. Through obedience. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Add comment
Comments