JUNE 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

 

JUNE 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  

“For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, 

and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Your [Word] is Truth and we know 

“In the beginning was the [Word], and the [Word] was with God, 

and the [Word] was God…” (John 1:1) 

and we also know that it was the Spirit of God that was the Creative Power

 displayed as God used only His Spoken Words to accomplish His Creation 

and the first words God spoke were 

“Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3)  

So Lord, let us be led by 

“The Light”

 which is Jesus, the Truth which is Jesus, 

and the Way to the Father  which is Jesus — 

Jesus we need You and Your Mercy, Compassion, and Grace

 to fall daily on our “thirsty” souls 

which we now and forever commend to Your Spirit.             

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus and the Holy Spirit is leading me today to add the second part

of this most enlightening Jesus Question so that JQ#19 reads:

 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, 

and loses his own soul? 

Or what will man give in exchange for his soul?” 

(Matthew 16:26) 

and to consider in an effort to an 

“understanding” of this “Deeper Still Teaching” 

of what Jesus is asking as we consider the

 “words” Jesus used to rebut Satan 

immediately after Jesus was “baptized” and then

 “[JESUS was] led up by the Spirit into the wilderness 

to be tempted by the devil…” (Matthew 4:1) 

We read the words that the Spirit had led Matthew to write 

of this confrontation between Jesus and Satan: 

“Now when the tempter came to [Jesus], he said,

 ‘If You are the Son of God, 

command that these stones become bread.” (Matthew 4:3) 

Matthew noted that Jesus has been without food and was hungry

 after fasting forty days and forty nights when Satan approached Him

 and Matthew then records these words Jesus used to rebuke Satan:

 “But [Jesus answered Satan] and said,

 ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, 

but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” 

(Matthew 4:4) 

This exchange of words between Satan and Jesus Teaches us 

where Jesus is going with JQ#19 and brings our attention

 to the most serious problem we will face in all eternity, 

“How do we prevent losing our ‘soul’ and what is the price 

that we must pay to gain eternal possession of our own ‘soul’?”  

First of all it was Satan that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

 and the temptation was in the form of “words” Satan spoke

 that put doubt in the mind of Eve about 

God’s instructions to her and Adam. 

The “power of words” surface in this encounter for Satan tempted 

Jesus to doubt the will of God when Satan challenged Jesus

 to prove Himself to be the Son of God by turning stones into bread 

and Jesus rebuked Satan’s attack by quoting scripture 

thereby giving us an example of the power of reading the

 “written word of God” 

and also the power of 

“speaking the word of God” 

when we face trials and temptations. 

When Jesus asks us to consider our “soul” and its “value” to God, 

we must go to the scripture to 

“understand the infinite magnitude” 

of the problem, and once we 

“understand” the “eternal consequences” 

of our answer, we can more fully appreciate the “compassion” 

that Jesus demonstrates by making us face the sin issue head on

 with His Question that brings into sharp focus the 

TRUTH of God that our “soul” is a “gift of God” 

and all things of God are “eternal” 

so our “souls are eternal”!!! 

God has written over and over again in His Word that Satan admits that he goes 

“to and fro on the earth” 

and Peter reminds us that Satan makes his rounds on the earth

 “seeking those he can destroy” (1 Peter 5:8). 

Jesus had warned us previously that we 

shouldn’t worry about those that can 

“kill the body”

 but we should be very concerned about those that are

 “able to destroy both soul and body in hell…” (Matthew 10:28) 

God has provided us with the scriptures and 

the scriptures are about God’s love for His Creation 

and the great extent that He has gone to 

in order to demonstrate that Love 

by sending His Son to “redeem” us… 

(and this “redemption” sounds exactly like “exchange”)! 

God is making it clear that nothing on earth can be used to 

“exchange” for our “soul” 

even if we possessed the 

“whole world”

 but there will be a day coming when He will ask us 

“who owns your soul?” 

In other words, God and Satan both are interested in our

 “eternal soul” 

which has 

“infinite” value to God 

who has proved over and over that He wants to give us

 “Eternal Life” 

and the only thing Satan has demonstrated is that he wants

 to “destroy” our soul and doom us to “Eternal Death” in hell 

where we will spend our eternity separated from 

the Father who Loves us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son 

to die on a cross and “exchange” His death for our life! 

Jesus is therefore asking us to take inventory of our lives 

and decide whose words are we listening to ——— 

the lies of Satan or the

 Truth of God?