While I was recently in Israel, I quickly realized how many cultural changes there are between our countries. In Israel, when one goes to the marketplace, he is expected to bargain for his purchase. You never pay for an item without first bargaining. I was terrible at that, and the merchants had to love to see me coming. Yet, most people like to think of themselves as good bargainers. Many take great pride in running across a good deal, saving a few dollars and coming out on top in a transaction. Whether it’s yard sales, the purchase of an automobile or the purchase of a house, we like to be able to say, “I made a good deal.”
That almost universal desire to “make a good deal” has caused me to think. I began to wonder if people are as shrewd as they think they are. Consider the following proposition. What would it take for you to exchange your good health? If someone had the ability to give you anything in the world in exchange for your good health, what would it take? Would you exchange your health for a new car? A home? 100 million dollars? How about fame and universal recognition? The list of offers could go on all day, and yet, I dare say that no one would accept this offer. Why? Because it would be a foolish trade? What good would it do us if we should gain the whole world and lose our health?
I guess you can see where I’m going now, can’t you. As careful as people are about making good deals and finding good bargains, they are often so careless with their most important possession, their souls. What would it take to sell your soul? Here’s what I find amazing about this proposition. You don’t have to start out offering the world, because people will sell out for much less than that. People will sell their souls for the contents of a bottle, a grudge, gossip, hatred, sexual relations, a lie and the list goes on.
So you see, I’m not so sure that people are as shrewd as they think they are. When we place more value on our physical health than our eternal well-being, we’ve made a poor decision. When we wouldn’t trade our physical health for the whole world, yet would trade our spiritual health for the smallest of matters, we’re not the good bargainers we thought we were.
Friends, the Devil has made and continues to make a proposition to you every day. His proposition is for the sale of your soul. Will you sell out? Seriously, give it some thought; what would it take for you to sell out? “What shall a man profit if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
