And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. Matthew 16:26-27
When you make decisions, what motivates you? Is it a person or a goal? Whatever that is, it is likely the thing that is most important to you. It is only natural to make decisions based off of what we center our lives around. Jesus knew that we make decisions and center our lives around what we valued the most when He called His disciples to love God with all their soul.
The Greek word for soul that is used in Mark 12 is "psuché," which is where we get our word "psyche" from. In other words, Jesus' call to love Him with all of our soul is a call to love Him with our entire being. This means that that we center our entire lives around Him. He becomes the most important thing in our lives and honoring Him is the most important to us. To get a look at where your soul is at, ask yourself these questions:
What am I passionate about?
What moves me to tears?
What excites me more than anything else?
In Matthew 16, Jesus urged His disciples to follow Him even though they would face hardship and loss. He reminded them that their souls were what was most valuable, so why would they want to invest their souls, their entire being, in things that are not eternal? Jesus is the only one who could offer eternal life.
When you evaluate your life, are you loving God with all of your soul? Is your life centered around Him? When you make decisions, does your love for God affect every decision you make? Our call today is to love God with all of our souls, our entire being. Is anything preventing you from loving Him with all of your soul?
Are you loving God with all of your soul, your entire being, or is something else occupying your time and attention? Jesus clearly said, "no man can serve two masters." Two things cannot occupy your soul. God is calling you to turn to Him and love Him with your entire being. This love should motivate everything you do. Today, write out a purpose statement on an index card and place it somewhere where you will frequently see it. Write on this index card "my purpose is to love God with my entire soul." As you see this statement, commit to loving God with your entire being.
From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.
But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, 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, 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? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
