What is the most valuable thing you own? Is it your house or your car maybe? Maybe it’s something more important than that? Perhaps, it’s your family or your reputation. I’ll tell you what the most valuable thing in my life is. It’s not my reputation; some of you that know me know that I play guitar, but it’s not my guitars. It’s not my gun or my PlayStation.
The most valuable thing that I own is one of a kind; there’s only one like it. It’s not something you can see. In fact, I have never seen it. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the most valuable thing in my life is my soul. My soul is priceless. I would not sell my soul for anything.
There are things that I have that I love, like my guitar, but if someone came up to me and offered a thousand dollars for my guitar, I would very quickly sell it to him on the spot. But my soul is different. Mark 8:36 says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
Jesus is asking: what if you had everything this world had to offer? What if you lived in a one-million square foot mansion with a multi-car garage filled with the nicest cars money can buy? In that house, you had all the latest appliances and furniture, and everything was of the highest quality; you lived in extravagant luxury. At work, you are the CEO of your business bringing in millions of dollars each year, but you’re not a Christian, you don’t go to church, and you never really give to others. You have everything, but really without God, you have nothing.
I would rather live in a ditch on the side of the road and serve God than live in a mansion in sin. Who has more? The man in the ditch serving God or the man in the mansion? Most would say, “Well, of course, the man in the mansion has more than the man in the ditch.” But they are wrong. The guy in the ditch has something far better than earthly riches; he has the hope and assurance of eternal life.
What do you gain if you have everything and lose your soul? Nothing–you have nothing that is going to matter after this life is over! Earthly riches are all going to burn in fire on that last great day. 2 Peter 3:10 says “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
Everything on this earth that people consider valuable now will not matter when the Lord returns. The only thing that will matter is whether you did or didn’t sell your soul to sin. My friends, please don’t sell your soul; hold on to it, and hold on to God. Your soul is priceless, but I want to ask you to give it away. You must not under any circumstance, sell your soul to Satan, but you have to give it to God. Obey his word and live the Christian life, then you will have a mansion that will never pass away. Are you selling your soul by trying to get what the world offers, or are you giving it away by faithfully obeying God and allowing His Word to guide your life?