What's your soul worth?

Mark 8:34-37 NLT

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.  And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  Is anything worth more than your soul?
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Peter and the other disciples knew that Jesus was the Messiah. God had revealed to them Jesus' true identity. Jesus' disciples wanted the promised rescuer to come. Most Jewish people at that time wanted to be rescued from the cruel rule of the Romans.

Jesus was the Messiah but he was also the Son of God.

Yet Jesus' method of deliverance was to suffer and die. Furthermore, Jesus was inviting his followers to suffer as well.

God's way was radically different from what the disciples were expecting.

Jesus wanted to rescue his people. But rather than gain the world the Romans controlled to give to his people, he was inviting his followers to give up everything. The downtrodden and oppressed were being invited to give up everything so they wouldn't lose their soul.

What in this world is so valuable that you'd exchange your own soul for it?

Would you give up your soul for temporary fame?
Would you give up your soul for power and riches for this short life?
Would you give up your soul for a unfulfilled struggling middle class mediocre disappointing life?

What in this life now is so worth trading eternity in God's kingdom and everlasting life with God for?

The Messiah came to rescue you from this world, its priorities, its dead end goals, its selfishness, and its king of the hill struggling mentality.

The God of heaven and earth is offering you the opportunity to be with him in his kingdom, but you must be willing to give up your claim on this world.

When he comes it will be as simple as, Which kingdom did you long for?

If you cling to all that you desire here, your hands will be full and there will be no way for you to follow Jesus hand in hand into his kingdom. If you didn't want to cling to Jesus while you lived here, and you didn't follow Jesus in the way he went, then you will not be following him into heaven.

You will have invested your soul in a world you cannot have, a world destined for destruction. If you only believe in this world you'll end up with nothing. You'll spend all your time, energy, and love struggling to have what you cannot attain and you'll miss out on all that Jesus offers.

What's your soul worth?
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Mark 8:29-38 NLT

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah. ” But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.  And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  Is anything worth more than your soul?  If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”