Whose Child?

 Jesus asked, and continues to ask this question: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" I'm coming to see that He asks this question of us each day. How do we answer it?

Writer and speaker Alicia Britt Chole said, "Satan always invites us to exchange the eternal for the visible." Mark Batterson said, "We gain things that perish only to lose things meant to endure." Every day we have choices come before us, and every day our choices will either enrich us spiritually, or impoverish  us, bit by bit killing our souls. Chloe asks, "With what might Satan be tempting us to bow down and worship him? How does he entice us to forfeit our soul." Not eternally perhaps, but some part of us is given over to his ways, and we suffer great loss in doing so.

How does he do this? Is it through the offer of success, whether in ministry, business, affluence, or relationships? Is it through the offer of "good things" at the expense of the best and greatest? Is it through the offer of pleasure, comfort, security, and safety? Is it through the offer of a low-risk but high reward life? In short, he offers much increase to our lives at the expense of the shrinking of our spirit and soul. His way will always lead us against God's way, and what looks like profit is instead, great loss, and we have so little idea of what we are really losing. The rich wonder of His presence and power in our lives.

In my notes I've written, "Throughout our spiritual lives, there is only one temptation; to choose against God. Our disobedience is Satan's greatest prize." I don't remember the source of that statement, but there can be no doubt that its true origin is found in the Father's heart. Each day we're faced with a myriad of temptations and they have many different faces. Actually though, the only real temptation for us is whether we choose for, or against Him. We choose by the manner in which we speak, think, relate, and live. In all of these we'll be choosing either for or against Him. 

Years ago, a Jesus Movement group named Dogwood, sang a song where a father counseled his son as he stepped out into the world and all the choices it offered. He exhorted his son to "remember whose child you are." Not just who his earthly father was, but even more, who his heavenly Father was. We'd do well to remember that simple warning. When faced with the choice of losing a part of our soul or not, we must remember whose child we truly are. It's when we forget who we are in Him that we are in the most danger of bowing down to the enemy and his desires for us. 

Where will our choices take us today? What will be gained and what will be lost in them? Will the Father have His prize of our obedience, or the enemy his great trophy of our disobedience? Whose child will we most closely resemble today? 

Blessings,
Pastor O