Sunday, February 5, 2012

Woah


1/18/2012

Mark 8:37- “Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Interpretation: Nothing. A man can’t spend his whole life volunteering serving somewhere secular or at a church. We could take all of the money and gold and the treasures of the whole earth and it would add up to dust in the eyes of God. You can’t meditate enough to earn your soul. You could die for someone else, take care of the homeless, be homeless, or be Steve Jobs. You could be Einstein. God isn’t interested in your money, your rise to stardom, or anything else you scrape up to bring to the soul table. It doesn’t matter if you’re a good person or a thief. Oh a thief? Yes a thief, like the one who hung on a cross next to the savior of the world and came to repentance in his final breath and entered the kingdom of God washed clean white as snow. Well that doesn’t seem fair compared to the “good person” who should go to heaven. What is wrong with us? Can’t we admit yet that there is clearly something wrong with everyone and even the best people out there still lack perfection? So what can a man give in exchange for his Hell-bound sinful soul? Here it is listen closely: nothing. The word is redemption. Jesus didn’t die on a cross and come back to life for no reason. We are tiny little humans and God knew there was nothing we could ever do to redeem ourselves, even with all the lamb sacrifices in the world. So God, in character as the forgiving, loving, righteous father He is, gave us His son as our High Priest, our hope, our way to heaven. We can’t give anything in exchange for our soul. We don’t have to; God already did it all. We just have to receive, by faith, the free gift he willingly gave us, and then by the power of the Holy Spirit thank Him by living a life for Him, full of love, truth, mercy, and peace.

Application: I need to pray today to find out how I can live a life more pleasing to the God who saved my soul through the great exchange, at the cross.

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