THE PRICE OF A SOUL

THE PRICE OF A SOUL!

Mark 8:36-37

36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

           "The Devil and Daniel Webster" is a short story by Stephen Vincent Benét. This Faustian tale was inspired by Washington Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker." Benet's story centers on a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the Devil and is defended by Daniel Webster, a fictional version of the famous statesman, lawyer, and orator.

The story appeared in The Saturday Evening Post (October 24, 1936) and was later published in book form by Farrar & Rinehart, 1937. That same year, it won the O. Henry Award. The author also adapted it in 1938 into a folk opera with music by Douglas Stuart Moore, a fellow Yale University alumnus, member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and winner of a Pulitzer Prize. Benét and Dan Totheroh co-authored the film adaptation, which was later renamed All That Money Can Buy (RKO, 1941). (Source: Wikipedia)

Foolish indeed was the farmer who, for a few prosperous years, gave his soul to the Devil and Hell but the Bible is full of other bad bargains. The first was Eve’s forbidden fruit. Of every and any tree in the garden she could freely eat but Satan convinced her that God was unfair for restricting access to one fruit tree. She traded access to God for access to this tree and suffered a fundamental change in her entire being.

Demas abandoned Paul and a life of ministry “having loved this present world” (see 2 Timothy 4:10). Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and then, in a gesture that was too late, threw them down at the feet of the Pharisees in the Temple. He went out and hanged himself. The “rich young ruler” in Matthew 19:22, “went away sorrowful because he had great riches” which he did not want to trade for a life of following Jesus. Adam Clarke said: “The soul was made for God, and can never be united to him, nor be happy, till saved from sin.”

           Hank Williams Sr. wrote a song that became a blue grass classic done by Bill Monroe called “House of Gold.” It’s worth a look this morning.

House Of Gold

People steal they cheat and lie
For wealth and what it will buy
But don't they know on judgment day
That gold and silver will melt away

I'd rather be in a dark grave
And to know that my poor soul was saved
Than to live in this world in a house of gold
And deny my God and doom my soul

What good is gold and silver too
If your hearts not pure and true
Sinner hear me when I say
Fall down on your knees and pray

Dear Lord, help us to assign the soul its true value. Help us to see the traps set for us by the devil. AMEN