What would you do if you won the lottery – if all of a sudden you were a millionaire? Would you quit your job? Kick back and relax? Go on a Shopping spree? Well, for lots of people, that’s the big dream.
Actually Jesus upped the stakes when He challenged His disciples to think about what was really important in life. He didn’t just offer them the lottery, He said: “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul?” The whole world – can you imagine that? That’s more than winning all of the lotteries.
This word, whole, is the Greek word holos, which means “whole, or entire, or complete.” We have it in our English word holocaust – a great or total destruction; or hologram – a 3-D picture, where you can see the whole thing.
So, what if you could have the whole world? What if you could be the most famous person in the world, with more money than anyone else in the world – with access to every pleasure and every possession anyone could ever want in the world? What if you could have the whole thing? Well, Jesus said that compared to the value of your eternal soul – all of that dissolves into nothing. A rich man once passed away, and someone wondered, “How much did he leave?” The reply was, “All of it.” You see, there’s one thing you will never see in a funeral procession – and that’s a Brink’s truck.
Listen! Your soul goes on forever, but everything else you will leave behind. That’s why Jesus said, “What profit is there if you gain the whole world, and forfeit your own soul?”
Say – when you die, you’re going to leave it all behind, too. Think about that the next time you balance your checkbook.