Seeds for 10/18/2023 - Matthew 16:24-26
Scripture: Then Jesus said to his disciples, “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 will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Observation: A wise statement is one thing. A powerful question is another. Verse 26 gets to the heart of the matter with a question that seems kind of esoteric and ethereal at first but is amazingly practical if you pause to really let it land with you.
“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
Jesus issues the challenging call to discipleship: self-denial, sacrificial living, faithful imitation of Him. Then He provides the rationale for why this calling that seems to give up so much in actuality gains so much. This is what we called yesterday a “divine reversal.” What seems to preserve one’s life puts it in greater jeopardy, while laying down ones life—ceasing to grasp at it and instead to offer it—is paradoxically the way to gain one’s life, that is, the true life from God.
Our question for consideration builds on the same divine “right-side up” logic. If we see life and the world from a kingdom point of view, then this decision, so at odds with “the way life works” from an earthly perspective, makes a lot more sense.
What does it mean to “forfeit [one’s] soul?”
Our soul is that part of us that is our center, our truest self, where our character, our loves, and our loyalties reside. It is our soul that we offer those closest to us—family or friends—when we “let someone in.” When we “sell our soul” for something of merely earthly value, we are debasing ourselves, selling our birthright for a bowl of stew.
Jesus exaggerates to make the point (or does He??), asking what good it would be—how worthwhile it would be—to “gain the whole world” yet give up our soul. Unfortunately, we are tempted to sell out for far less the “the whole world.” The point remains—our soul is of infinite value. There’s nothing we could trade it for that would come within the same zip code as the worth of our soul.
Jesus may as well be asking, “What good would it be for someone to gain a truckload of dead cockroaches, yet forfeit a priceless family heirloom diamond?” The answer is obvious—but why? Because we know the value of a truckload of dead cockroaches and the value of a family heirloom diamond.
Do we know the value of the whole world versus the worth of our soul?
Application:
When have you seen people give up their soul in order to gain something of earthly but not eternal value?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, you have shown me the value of my soul in the cross of Jesus. May I value it as greatly as you do. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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