What do you benefit?

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 9:35-38)

A follower requires a leader. As we might imagine, there are tons of individuals desirous of being 'leaders' in this world. Some will rise slowly, others seemingly at the speed of light. What most leaders have in common is that they ask you to give up something in order to follow after them. What Jesus asked of us is that we give up our own way - our stubborn, prideful way of living life independently from God. That 'way' is not doing us any good - in fact, it is holding us in bondage to our sinful, fleshly desires and deeds. That isn't really all that much to hold onto, is it? When Jesus asks us to give up our own way, he asks us to choose life and not death, for our way will only lead to death and permanent separation from the presence of God.

The most telling question Jesus asked, "...what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" If you can honestly answer that what you 'gain' in this world is better than what Jesus offers you, then you will lose your own soul. Is that really something any of us want to lose? If we can agree that our soul is that part of us that is 'eternal' - the very part of us that lives on after our human body is dead, decaying in the ground - then wouldn't you really want to think about who you give that soul to follow? Truth be told, when we choose to give our souls to following the wrong leader, we are damning our souls to eternal death and separation from God. 

Matthew 25:46 declares that the human soul will face eternal judgment - going either into eternal punishment or eternal life. The only way to escape eternal punishment (hell) is to choose to serve Jesus. Make him the leader of your life - there really is no greater leader, no better choice. Just sayin!