The Cost Of A Soul – Thursday, February
27, 2014 – Pastor Anita
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be
in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just
persons, which need no repentance.
(Luke 15:7).
Many people give attention to things that
aren't so important. They strive all their
lives to be famous and gain human
recognition, but these don't last. "As for
man, his days are as grass: as a flower of
the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone; and the
place thereof shall know it no
more" (Psalms 103:15-16). When we
stand before the Master, He won't ask for
the accolades men heaped on us while we
were on earth. Rather, He'll be interested
in what we did with the Gospel in saving
souls.
Every soul on earth is valuable to God
because He ransomed all men at a very
high price: the precious blood of His Son,
Jesus. That's why the Bible says when
one sinner repents, there's joy in heaven.
If only one person had been in the world,
Jesus would still have come to die. He
didn't come because we were many; He
came because we were valuable to God.
We have the responsibility of reaching out
to others with the message of salvation;
this is our calling and our purpose for
being here on earth. Irrespective of our
skills or vocation, soul winning ought to
be our priority in everything. God first
demonstrated this by sending His only
begotten Son to earth not to be a doctor,
lawyer, or politician, but a soul winner.
Remember that Proverbs 11:30 says, "The
fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and
he that winneth souls is wise." We're the
wise ones, sent by God to shine the light
of the Gospel and bring men out of
darkness into the glorious Kingdom of His
Son. "And they that be wise shall shine as
the brightness of the firmament; and they
that turn many to righteousness as the
stars forever and ever" (Daniel 12:3).
Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for loving me and
demonstrating your value for me by the
price you paid for my salvation-the death
of Jesus Christ on the cross. I see others
through your eyes of love, and reach out
to them with the good news of salvation,
in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further Study: Luke 15:8-10: Either what
woman having ten pieces of silver, if she
lose one piece, doth not light a candle,
and sweep the house, and seek diligently
till she find it? And when she hath found
it, she calleth her friends and her
neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with
me; for I have found the piece which I
had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is
joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
1 Year Bible Reading Plan: Mark 8:14-26;
Numbers 3-4
2 Year Bible Reading Plan: Acts
21:40-22:1-10; Psalm 44-45

The Choice......

EVERY moment in life, we are faced with a choice.

Which should command our preference--the demands of our job or the duties to our family?

If there is a board meeting today at the same hours that our son
graduates from school, where should we go -- to the boardroom or to the graduation ceremony?

If we have to make a very important presentation tomorrow, so as to advance our career, but our wife says she has to see the doctor on a suspicion of cancer, which appointment should we keep?

These are the daily battles of conscience we have to wage, trying to
keep a balance between our responsibility to earn a living and our
opportunity to live a life.
And our choices invariably reveal who we really are.
Our preferences indicate our true character.
Our priorities are the best indicators of our real identity.

What profits success?

I know that many of you out there would go for career on the pretension that after all, you are doing all these for the family. Many of you, dear readers, would rather become outstanding employees, model personnel instead of being doting fathers or loving husbands.

Many of you would opt to perform exceedingly well in the office even
if you work 12 to 16 hours a day, going home only to change clothes
or catch a few hours of sleep.

But what for? At the end of the day, what have you accomplished?

What profits a highly successful professional or wealthy businessman if ultimately, he loses his family, wrecks his marriage or dishonors the name he will leave to his children?

What has a rich man accomplished if he has built a fortune and founded conglomerates of highly profitable companies and yet drives his own wife to vices or infidelity, his children to drugs and delinquency and himself to spiritual decay and total burnout?

What matters most?

Look around you.
The evidence is overwhelming and irreversible.
Families are shattered.
Marriages are broken.
Lives are reduced to utter emptiness.

Even as man advances in wealth and success, he deteriorates on the basic standards of joy, peace and serenity. As we all compete and struggle for power and possessions, we often neglect what really matters most. In our insatiable mania for supremacy over the rest, we often forget the most important things in life.

I will respect your choice. But as for me, my priorities are clear. Between career and family, I will always go for family.

I can forego that board meeting and earn the ire of my boss or make a bad impression on my peers. But I shall not inflict a lifetime trauma on my son by sending him alone to graduate without his dad. I can forget that business presentation and lose a valued client or waste a career promotion, but I cannot leave my wife alone in her moments of anxiety.

Meaningless?

Why should a well-known public figure commit suicide given all his fame and fortune? Can his wealth and wisdom compensate for ruptures in his relationships?

Why should a wife of a famous politician commit adultery with the family driver? Is it lust or vain fixation for the pleasures of the flesh? Or is it the pain of being neglected and ignored by the husband she used to adore?

Why should a son cut his wrist or a daughter drink poison despite all the luxuries and pleasures they are showered with?

Can money replace love ?
Can pleasure take the place of affections ?

In this age of top line technology and convenience gadgets, why are humans talking to computers rather than with each other? Why are we retrenching people and replacing them with robots and machines?

Why have we lost the simple joys of nurturing relationships with bank tellers because we have replaced them with ATMs?

Why, with all our cells, e-mails, Internets, websites or the endemic texting, are we no longer communicating? Why are family members no longer talking to each other?

The ultimate hell?

To succeed in career and fail in the family is, to me, the ultimate hell.

John Grisham, that famous author of legal fictions wrote * The Testament,* which tells of a highly successful industrialist who made billions of dollars but lost his family.

In the first 10 pages of the novel, he jumped to his death from his multi-story building in front of his self-centered children. By his will, he disinherited all of them and bequeathed his entire estate to an illegitimate daughter who refused to accept it.

That is the ultimate irony; those who lusted for money lost it. Those who were given all the money refused it.

In all his dozen masterpieces, Grisham tells us about the importance of family. "A Time to Kill" tells of a father who went to jail for killing his daughter's rapists.

Indeed, we who are simple folks should learn from the mistakes of others. We should straighten our lives and put our priorities in order.

I don't know about you.

But as for me and my house, our credo is: There is no success in a career that can make up for a failure in the family.

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The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower view points. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and
back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, over weight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose, Your Loving Faith.