DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE VALUE OF A SOUL

DAD'S RAMBLINGS - THE VALUE OF A SOUL

"The Moses returned to the LORD and said, 'Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin – but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.' And the LORD said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.' " (Exodus 32:31-33)

There are many great things in these chapters which we could use for our meditation today. Such things as Moses' desire to know God: "Then Moses said to the LORD, 'Show me Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight' " (Exodus 33:13). Or the way that God gifted Bezalel and Aholiab to do the craftsmanship of building the tabernacle and all the things used in worship (Exodus 31:2, 6). He filled them with wisdom and knowledge to do the work He called them to do.

But there is one focus that has spoken especially to my heart, and that is the intercession of Moses for his fellow Israelites. This has caused me some soul-searching as I have pondered it. I have to ask myself, "What is a soul worth?"

The people of Israel, under the leadership of Aaron, Moses' brother and the High Priest, had sinned greatly by making a golden calf and then worshiping it. Moses was greatly disturbed by this sin. He knew that God's wrath "burned hot against them" and He threatened to bring great judgment on them (32:10).

Moses interceded before God for the people. In His great love for his people, Moses offered to take the punishment on himself, even to having his name removed from God's book. God, in effect, said, "Not so, Moses. Everyone is responsible for their own sin." We cannot pay the penalty for someone else's sin.

But the question haunts me. How much is a soul worth? Would I be willing to have my name blotted out of God's book if it meant another person's salvation? Moses is way ahead of me on this one. Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13), and He demonstrated this by laying down His life for us. Jesus thought you and I were so valuable that He left heaven to come down to this sinful earth to die on a cross so that we can go to heaven? Do I love lost souls that much, that I would die for them – that I would surrender my own salvation so someone else would be saved? God doesn't ask me to do that. Still, it reveals my own soul.

And, of course, it would not be possible. Scripture is makes it very clear that "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved" (Acts 4:12). There is only one way to have our names written in God's great Book, and that is by faith in the Lord Jesus. And God's word says that "anyone not found written The Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). That is sobering to contemplate.

Jesus asked a profound question. "What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what would a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36-37). Can you put a price on a soul? Is there anything on this earth that is more valuable than eternal life with God?

We can know that our names are written in the Book. In writing his Gospel, John says that he wrote the book so that "you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31). We can know beyond a doubt that we have eternal life by believing that Jesus is the Son of God (I John 5:13), and that He died for our sins.

How much is a soul worth? So much that Jesus left heaven to come to this earth to die for sinful man. Oh, what a great Savior! "Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, What a Savior."

Love, Dad