Lose Your Soul?

Lose Your Soul?

Let us look at this question beyond the traditional Evangelical viewpoint. Let us see a fuller picture from a God perspective that is not limited to time or space. Let us look at this question beyond the after life and into the Now of God. Remember that the Kingdom of God is here now both among us and in us and to God everything is in the now.

Mark 8:31-37

Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
(ASV) For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
(CEV) What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself?
(Darby) For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?
(GW) What good does it do for people to win the whole world yet lose their lives?
(MSG) What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?

What is a man gaining and what is he losing? To answer this we need a more precise biblical definition to the words “world” and “soul”.

World: G2889 kosmos
Thayer Definition: 6) the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ
7) world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly
7a) the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

In this verse we see that walking according to the course of the world is walking according to the prince of the power of the air. This we know to be the devil, but it is also the spirit of the anti-Christ (remember that there are only two spirits, that which is for Christ and that which is against or anti-Christ). The world or kosmos represents the self life and all of its wants. This is the lifestyle where I put me first, think about me first, look at life from the perspective of how does this affect me and what will this do for me! Making decisions without considering how it will affect others!

Soul:
Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
(BBE) And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man became a living soul.
(MSG) GOD formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive–a living soul!

The word “soul” and “being” are synonymous words, that is to say that they mean the same thing and are able to be exchanged in a sentence. The word “being” comes from the verb “to be” which when expressed in the first person is “I am”.
To lose your soul is to lose the “I AM”, the God potential, the God identity, the God awareness and the God relationship or oneness. It is the loss of purpose and destiny in the Christ; it is the loss of discovery of why you were born and how you fit in the larger picture of God’s marvelous plan in Christ Jesus.

The good news is that this lifestyle is a daily decision. Each day we are tempted to choose what we want without considering how it might affect others but we don’t have to answer that temptation. Instead we can ask ourselves before any decision is made “How will this decision affect others and my ability to serve them?” This is the Christ Life!

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