E.B. Janes makes a sobering and significant observation in an article entitled, “Winning Souls.”1  Janes noted Christ’s words in Matthew 16:26: ―For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?: After giving emphasis on the salvation of our soul being so precious and important, Janes then noted souls around us, stating, “Jesus died for them as well as He did for us. They are just as much the purchase of His blood, and they are as much redeemed of His love as we are. If we should succeed in acquiring the whole world and lose our own souls, then it is a legitimate inference that their salvation is of more importance than all the world. It is a grander enterprise, it is a sublime result to save a human soul through the mediation of Christ and through the instrumentality of grace than to make a world! No wonder, then, that the inspired writer said he that saves a soul is wise.” Note Proverbs 11:30.

I have just returned from a journey covering some 10 states, viewing some of the spectacular and sublime scenes and creatures of God’s earth (the Tetons, Old Faithful, Mt. Rushmore, multiple wildlife and flowers). I heard the “Ohs‖ and ―Ahs”, the gasps of amazement by those traveling with me, seeing the stunning and striking formations and figures of God’s handiwork. The supreme challenge and test is, ―Do we have a similar awe and amazement when a soul emerges from the baptistery as a new creature through the redeeming benefits extended by Christ’s supreme sacrifice for a soul now saved from sin (Rom. 6:3f; I Pet. 1:18f)?

Christ was not crucified to save a mighty mountain, nor did He give His blood to purchase a National Park, or to preserve a species of the animal kingdom! His priority was the fact that one soul saved is worth more than that—more than the whole world!

I must confess that I, too, was expressing “Ohs” and “Ahs” at the majesty of His creation. The sobering test is “how much of His insight that a soul is worth more than all the world—how much of that have I grasped??? How much of that concept have you grasped?

May there be other journeys and genuine appreciation for God’s magnificent design of the earth and its stunning life– plant and animal. Such a trip shouts out the evidence of God as the Maker of heaven and earth! Then may there be with that appreciation, a prayer to God for wisdom to balance all those beauties with a sobering recognition that our Savior valued each soul all around us—family members, co-workers, classmates—as worth more than all the world!

Do you hope to take a trip this year—next year? Do you prayerfully hope to save a soul this year—next year??

_____________________

1 Theo. L. Cuyler, ed., Golden Thoughts of Mother, Home and Heaven, E. B. Treat, Publisher, New York, 1878, pp.230f.