Would You Sell Your Soul to End the Frustration?

People have no idea how precious and valuable their souls actually are.

In preparation for his book, Greg Laurie interviewed some people on the street and asked them this simple question: “Would you sell your soul—and if so, at what cost?”

What would your answer be to such a question?

One self-assured thirty-something guy said, “Oh yeah, I’d do it in a second. Give me a million dollars! No soul!”
Another said, “I’d trade it for a few weeks—for the excitement. I’d get into a lot of trouble, but that’s a decision you have to make. I’d be willing to take that chance.”
A young hipster cockily said, “I’d sell it for money. I could get anything I want. You could buy another soul!”

Ironically, in our culture today, we place the greatest value on what, for the most part, has no value. Then we completely ignore what has the greatest value: the human soul.

Every day in the paper we read of tragic and senseless killings—people being gunned down, often by young kids who have no concept of the value of life, not to mention the value of the human soul.

You probably remember reading the story of the eighteen-year-old girl who gave birth to a baby boy in a bathroom stall at her senior prom, disposed of him in the trash can, and then returned to the dance floor. Once the whole incident came to light, one of her friends told a reporter, “She was sitting near me and my friends, talking and laughing. She looked like nothing was wrong.”

Even more unbelievable, this smiling young woman who had just discarded her newborn requested the band to play a song by the rock group Metallica for her boyfriend. The name of the song? “Unforgiven.”

This cheapening of human life is not only seen in the heartless taking of others’ lives but also in the growing number of people who take their own lives. A recent article on young people and suicide cited that the number of ten- to fourteen-year-olds taking their lives has risen dramatically since the early 1980s. A recent Center for Disease Control report indicated that in a survey of the largest industrialized countries, the U.S. suicide rate for children fourteen and younger was double that of the other twenty-four countries combined. The word that experts use over and over again to describe the mood of suicidal youth is hopeless.

Once we lose sight of the value of human life, it is easy to lose sight of the value of the human soul.

Many years ago Jesus asked this probing question: “Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Most of us aren’t even aware of the fact that we have one, much less that it has any intrinsic value. We tend to place all our stock in the way we look and feel as well as in what we possess. Yet all of this will pass away. Then that which really matters—the human soul, the eternal—is ignored or even spurned. On that final day, however, that’s all that will really matter.

Let me tell you the story of a man who forgot about his soul. He seemed to have everything together in life except the most important thing. Then when he faced eternity, it was too late. This story was given to us by Jesus Christ.

Here is what he said:
A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing. So he said, “I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store everything. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, ‘My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’ ” But God said to him, “You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?” Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. (Luke 12:16-21)
There are many commendable things about this rich man. He apparently was a hardworking farmer to have accomplished what he accomplished. Jesus is not faulting this man for his success or his possessions but for his failure to make plans for eternity. He was living high on the hog, not even realizing the clock was ticking. Then suddenly—without warning—his life came to an end. He was a fool because he died unprepared.

His philosophy would be shared by many today: “Take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry. Live it up!” But they gloss over the part of the story where God says, “You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?” (Luke 12:20).

Gianni Versace, the famed clothing designer, did not plan on dying when he left his beautiful mansion in Miami Beach to get the morning paper one sun-drenched morning. His fashions were celebrated around the world, worn by rock stars and the Hollywood elite. Then, without warning, the celebrated life of an internationally known man was over.

Much like the man in the story Jesus told, Versace lived in the very lap of luxury. He was quoted in the New Yorker in 1994: “I can spend 3 million dollars in 2 hours. I go shopping one day in Paris, buying things for my house in Miami. That night, I come back home, and I see the figure that I spent—oh, I start to dance . . . I want to kiss myself.”

What was the condition of Versace’s soul? Only God knows. Yet a close call with death did not change the way that he lived. After surviving a life-threatening bout with cancer, Versace was quoted as saying, “ ‘I could just . . . go,’ I said to myself. Well, every day that I live from now on—it’s my party.”

He sounded a lot like the rich man in this story that Jesus told. That man said, “I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry’ ” (Luke 12:19, NKJV). What Versace did not know was that this was the day on which his soul would be required.