When Jesus began to explain to His disciples that he would be killed and be raised to life on the third day, the disciples were upset. Peter took Him aside and said, “This shall never happen to you.” Then Jesus said whoever wanted to be His disciples should deny himself and take up the cross and follow Him. “Whoever loses their life for me will find it.” In this context He said how a man would benefit if he gained the whole world but lost his soul

Jesus is presenting a choice between two options. The first is vast wealth, immense power and unrestrained indulgence in all desires. The second is the prospect of becoming a person of God’s own heart possessing good character, sound emotion, blameless conscience- basically the privilege to be at peace with God and people. The first one is tangible and material. The other is internal and spiritual. The choice depends on our priority.

The more vast the possessions and power become, the more likely that the soul would be shrunk. The inn was filled with people at the time of Jesus’ birth and so there was no room for Jesus. When the heart gets cluttered with earthly ambitions and achievements the soul is forgotten and neglected like the child of ever busy parents whose focus is expanding their earthly and monetary territories.

Tony Campoli says ,” when they lay you in the grave, are people going to stand around reciting fancy titles you have earned or are they going to stand around giving testimonies of the good things you did for others? If it comes down to a choice between a title or a testimony go for testimony.”

At every point we make choices. We find things of the world- security, prosperity, popularity, promotion, status and acceptance on one side and the well-being of our soul, joy and acceptance by God on the other side. Do we have the courage to say no to the desires of the flesh and focus on that which will fortify our soul?

Dr. (Mrs.) Edriana Jeyasingh