“What could you ever trade your soul for?” ~Jesus

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Friend, Heaven, Hell, Jesus, Jesus Questions, Jesus Sayings, Kingdom, Kingdom of God, Mark 8, Soul

“Calling the crowd to join his disciples, Jesus said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?” ~Jesus  | Mark 8:34-37 (The Message)

Jesus is building his Father’s Kingdom and lays out for us the core requirements. Jesus is the leader. I have to sacrifice what I want and let Him lead. That is it. The is the core.

What could you ever trade your soul for? The answer is I could trade it for a lot of different things. There are lots of “gods” to choose from. There is materialism, secularism, politics, myself, and on and on the goes the list. I have a choice.

So why choose Jesus? It is a fact Jesus is in charge. God sent Him to sacrifice Himself on the cross for our missing God’s goal (aka sin), He was resurrected from the dead and ascended to Heaven where He rules, sitting at the right hand of God, our Father.

I get, as a result of accepting His sacrifice, a place as a co-heir and child of God. I get eternity with Jesus. If I don’t choose Jesus, I get an eternity in hell to suffer every minute of every day for trillions and trillions of years.

So Jesus concludes by saying (Mark 8:38):

“If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”