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What's The Going Price For Our Soul?

The story is told of a young man who was in need of some serious counseling because he was constantly getting into trouble. His probation officer told him to go and talk to a counselor. With an arrogant attitude and great reluctance, he went to see a counselor. When he arrived at the counselor’s office, he stated in an arrogant tone of voice, “OK, counsel me.” Undaunted, the wise counselor looked up from his thoughts and said to the young man, “I have but two questions for you.”

“All right,” said the young man. “I’m ready. Ask me anything you like.” The counselor responded saying, “The two questions are suppositions. Suppose you would never be found out and no one would be harmed in a physical way. If these circumstances were guaranteed, would you tell a lie for $1,000?”

The young man thought for a moment and then in a slow but confident voice answered, “Sure. For a thousand dollars and no one knows and no one gets hurt; yeah, I would tell a lie.” The counselor nodded his head, and then asked the second question. “Would you tell such a lie for a dime?”

The young man became furious, and loudly retorted, “Of course not! What kind of fool do you think I am?” Again undaunted, the mature counselor replied in a quiet voice, “I already know what you are. I’m just trying to establish your price.”

The price tags on the souls of men are often very different. For Judas, the price was thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16). Achan’s price was material possessions (Joshua 7:1). In John 12:42-43, we read that many of the religious leaders of the day believed in Jesus, but because of their fear of being ostracized, they sold their souls to the devil in exchange for “the praise of men” (John 12:43).

Jesus’ view of the soul’s worth and value, is exactly the same — it’s worth more in price and value than the whole world (Matthew 16:24-26). However, even today, we find that many men and women are still making the same mistake that Judas, Achan, and the religious leaders of the first century made, by selling their eternal souls to the devil in exchange for the temporary rewards of wealth, power, and prestige.

If we find it easier to think of worldly matters, to talk of insignificant events, and to do purposeless tasks, then we can be sure that the devil will tempt our hearts to value material wealth, power, and the praise of men over any spiritual goals we may have.

Brethren and friends, the old devil knows that the above worldly influences will always be a problem in our lives, and though we may not surrender to him totally, if we waver in our commitment to the Lord in any way, our enemy will bargain and barter until he has found our price. Then we will become like the rich young ruler, who sadly left the presence of Jesus, because he could not give up the riches he thought were important (Matthew 19:16-22).

He willingly sold his soul to the devil because, to him, the cost of following Jesus was too great a price. As he walked away from the Lord, perhaps he thought, “Sell all of my possessions? No way! I’ll die and go to hell first!” And it’s very probable that he did.

What’s the going price for our soul?

Let’s think about it!