JULY 07 JQ#19-3 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JULY 07   JQ#19-3  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord Your Mercy is given new to us every morning and Your Grace is sufficient to take us through everything that we will encounter on our daily journey to the Kingdom. Lord Jesus, I do not know what trials, what tribulations, what temptations, or what mountain top victories that You have planned for us today but I do know that You have promised to never leave us nor forsake us and that You will take us “through” every valley, trial, and temptation safely so that we may have confidence that every thing works to our good if we but Love the Lord. Jesus, to You be the Glory and all Honor for Worthy is the Lamb of God that was slain, that we could be called the children of God!       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JULY 07   JQ#19-3  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)   Jesus knows how to get our attention and I am sure that the “attention-getter” word above is “profit” ——— and everyone must deal with “profit” in our daily world and the necessity of “earning a living”. These are the “ways” of the world and it is because that we have been taught for generations that we now look at this term “profit” as “money” and that as  we read the verse, we think only in terms of how big our bank account is. There is a reason that Jesus used the term “profit” and even in my limited intellect I can see the advantage of using a “universal” term to gain “universal” attention to teach a “universal” lesson. The lessons that we miss though are the really important ones that are overlooked when we lazily settle for the “low hanging fruit” for we have also been taught by the world that “instant gratification” is the Holy Grail of getting “more” so we grab that which is most easily reached and can quickly be consumed so that we, like locust,  can consume as much as our voracious appetites  for “more” demands. Jesus, being the Master Teacher therefore puts a “universally” known term into the question along with a terms lesser known by the world in order to get our attention away from the “physical world” to the “spiritual world” and in the comparison Jesus shows us the “True Value” of what we desire to possess. To make His point, Jesus uses the term “profit” at the beginning of the question but the way the question is asked we must start comparing the term “profit” with the term “soul”! In our daily lives we are always thinking about how we are going to “pay” for things like food, clothing, shelter, and the “really” important things like vacations, TVs, cell phones, data plans, and computers but very seldom we think of using anything but “money” to pay for all our worldly stuff — in fact, we are so consumed by “making a living” that we fail to understand the term “profit” correctly or to consider the “true value” of our possessions! Our attention on the world and money is by the enemy’s design, and Jesus knows that He must open our eyes or we will be blind to the TRUTH that the “world and money” can’t buy anything “Everlasting” — therefore Jesus grabs our attention with the word “profit” and immediately teaches with the phrase “if he gains the whole world” which defines the true meaning of “profit” as “gain”. So in the question is the start of the lesson of “what is it in our life that we must address to make ‘true gains’ in our life that have ‘everlasting’ or ‘eternal consequences’”??? — Jesus taught His disciples this lesson several different ways and we read the advice of “the disciple that  Jesus loved“ and also the disciple that wrote the final Jesus Lesson: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” as John teaches what He learned from Jesus about the world: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world ———the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ——— is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)  That pretty much sums up where Jesus is going with this “profit of the world” verses our eternal “soul” lesson and we see that’s it by the followup question Jesus asks “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matthew 16:26b — second part of JQ#19) that Jesus has Masterfully brought out the true meaning of “profit” to get us thinking straight about our “eternal reality”. And now Jesus diffuses the “money” myth by asking us what we think we have of any “spiritual value” that we can “exchange” for our “soul” — certainly it becomes obvious that Jesus is teaching that all the money in the world is worthless when it comes to purchasing “eternity” and that our “soul” is “not for sale” at any worldly price! This is a very important question for us to consider — “If money is worthless in the Kingdom, what will we use to “purchase” our “ticket”? Surely Jesus has given us a clue in the question and don’t you think that it may have something to do with our “soul” since He has used the terms “profit” and “exchange” and followed them both with the term “soul”? Jesus always gives the answer for every question so let’s look at the context in the verses Matthew 16:21 to Matthew 17:13 and see what Jesus was teaching when He asked this question about “…what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world?” Do you believe, like me, that Jesus gives us the answer by the way HE LIVED?