Happy Wednesday, all! :) Continuing on this week in the “Seek the things above” Wednesdays series of posts … with thoughts on the soul this week.

Sometimes we hear fictional stories in which someone “sold their soul to the devil” … usually a red-caped pitchfork-bearing figure offering someone a legal document and haggling over price. That’s not how evil presents itself – with a “Ta da! Here I am!”. I think it would be much easier to recognize it were that way! But no, the devil doesn’t appear to us holding a pitchfork and giving us an ultimatum.

Rather, he tempts us in everyday things, when our guard is down. The Bible figuratively describes him as “prowling” (in 1 Peter 5:8), or as a “snare” (in 2 Timothy 2:26), or even in “disguise” (in 2 Corinthians 11:14). In other words: sneaky. Not announcing “Here I am, the devil! You know, the one you’re supposed to resist.” No, it’s in moments when we are not paying attention. Moments when we are not thinking, “Would I really give my soul for this?”

Jesus asked us to contemplate this question in Matthew 16 … “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26 ESV)

What would I give in exchange for my soul? Is it worth giving up my soul for some “petty” vice? For some momentary pleasure from sin? For pride? For a billion dollars? How about for the whole world? When I stop and ask myself, I know the answer – no way! It’s a incomprehensible loss in any trade. But I don’t always keep that in mind. I mess up. Big time. We all do. Me, you, everyone that is old enough to understand right and wrong. I thank God that he has given us an avenue of forgiveness – that our souls don’t have to be lost forever. And when I think about the cost the God payed to save our souls – with his own life – that again reminds me of the value of my soul, of your soul, of all souls.

I read this interesting quote from C. S. Lewis about the soul, above. Of course C. S. Lewis, and all the rest of us who are not God, can be wrong about anything. So we have to compare anything a person says to the Bible (and I certainly hope you do this with anything that I say!) to see if it is true. So while I’m not saying everything he taught is true, there are many things he said that were very thought provoking, like this quote. It’s such a great reminder of who we are, and where our focus should be. And if we keep that in mind, that this body is temporary, that we are something much more – then it is easier to remember not to trade that for something wrong which our bodies want.

You can click the image above to get the printable version, to hang and be reminded of the perspective of this life. I know I need that reminder everyday.

Do you ask yourself if things are worth giving up your soul? What are your thoughts? Leave your comments below! :)