How To Lose Your Soul

What are you worth? What is your value? What would you trade your soul for? Is there anything worth more than your soul?

“For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” Mathew 16:26

Jesus said that your soul is worth more than the rest of the world put together. Yet, we tend to put all of our emphasis on the body with it’s pleasures and it’s physical appetite.

Satan is the ruler of this world, and he seeks to kill, steal, and destroy every part of our souls. Matter 10:28 tells us “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” As I think about everything that is going on in the world today. I can clearly see that Satan is hard at work destroying the souls of people.

Here are some ways Satan is getting us to lose our souls,

• Greed

“You shall not covet your neighbors house, You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, or his ox, nor his donkey, not anything that is your neighbor’s.” – Exodus 20:17

One of the hungriest soul eaters is greed – the feeling that we never have enough. We use all kinds of tactics to hide our greed, like pretending we want the best we can be when what we really want is to be better than everyone else so we can have more than everyone else.

It is a fallacy to think that only the rich are greedy. Greed is a state of mind equally possessed by rich and poor. Greed kills our souls because it fixes the attention on getting rather than on giving, and when we’re focused on getting (regardless of the reasons we tell ourselves) then our eyes are off of heaven and riveted on the things of this world.

• Dishonesty

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” – Exodus 20:16

What a wonderful world this would be if people always told the truth. How many souls are lost each day because lying is easier than telling the truth?

Lies to cover mistakes and weaknesses

Lies to make you richer quicker

Lie to save you from justice

Dishonesty is the servant of pride. Whenever there is a first lie it is usually told to protect ego or to lift one’s ego above another, then other lies simply come about to protect the original deception.

God is true, His word is truth, and to lie is to become a child of Satan who is the original liar. The Bible says Satan is “the Father of lies” (John 8:44).

• Theft

“You Shall not steal” – Exodus 20:15

A close cousin to lying is stealing. There is a saying that goes “If they will lie, they will steal.” One vice seems to follow the other.

In our materialistic, highly competitive world there is such temptation and pressure to get what you need to keep up with everyone else, even if you have to get it by stealing a car, or stealing from a business or cheating to get an edge it’s all the same. Whenever you take what doesn’t belong to you, not matter how little it is, it’s stealing.

The sad part is that a person may save time, money, or effort by stealing but they forfeit their soul by doing it.

• Impurity

“You shall not commit adultery.” -Exodus 20:14

The misuse of sex is the most powerful tool that satan has in his toolbox that destroys us. The natural power of sex makes it a potentially dangerous thing. Like explosives it can be used for good or bad.

Sex has the power to bond man and woman together for life in a marriage. But when it is used outside of that which included adultery, homosexuality, pornography, or other perverse sexual activity and impurity, this illicit sex creates guilt, self-hatred, shame, and the feeling of unworthiness.

Some people don’t know how to ask for forgiveness and those that do often struggle their entire lives with feelings of uncleanness. The Apostle Paul warned that sexual sin was a “sin against one’s own body.” ( 1 Corinthians 6:18).

• Murder

“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13

Murdering someone is definitely a soul destroyer because it is a direct strike at God, since mankind is made in the image of God.

Or course, few people actually deliver the final blow that ends the life of another human being but we are guilty of inflicting the kind of damage that leads in that direction.

The secret harm of gossip

The silent harm of resentment indifference

The debilitating harm of abuse to another or yourself through mental torment or substance abuse.

Violence against the weak, unborn, old, etc…

God puts a high premium on human life because it shares His own nature and when we damage or endanger our lives or the lives of others, our own souls are at risk.

There’s an ancient law of life that still stands today as it is written.

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His own image. -Genesis 9:6

• Dishonoring Parents

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” -Exodus 20:12

I find it interesting that study after modern-day study concludes that the majority of our social ills can be traced back to the breakdown of the family unit. But what does the breakdown of the family unit actually mean? It means that fathers and mothers refuse to take on their responsibilities, and children rebel against their parents. This then manifests itself in a sinful and chaotic social situation and further destruction of modern families who are caught in this vicious cycle. The Bible says that honoring parents is the surest way to be blessed by God because it preserves the family and helps avoid the corroding influences of the world that kills a person’s soul.

• Dishonoring God

This includes:

Ignoring Spiritual Exercise

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God in it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, make of female servant or your cattle of your sojourner who stays with you. For you in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” – Exodus 20:8-11

A person’s soul needs to be fed in the same way that a physical body needs care and feeding. Souls often die of starvation and the signs of spiritual starvation are clear:

Weakness towards temptation

Lack of interest In Spiritual things

No desire to be with God in prayer

Doing little or nothing in the name of Jesus Christ

Going to church, reading your Bible, serving others, prayer, praise – all these things are necessary to keep one’s soul alive. To ignore these things of God is to dishonor God Himself.

I was asked just last week, “Why do you go to church every Sunday Church’s are so judgmental.” I answered them “I don’t go to church for the people, I go to church to feed my soul, and to boost my spirits.”

Blasphemy

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your Godwin vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” – Exodus 20:7

We can take the Lord’s name in vain when we use it to swear an oath such as “I swear to God.” If we lie or do not follow through on the oath, we have taken His name in vain. Some people think it simply means not to curse using God’s name. Though that is certainly inappropriate and showing Him the utmost disrespect for Him, that is nota,k that is meant by this command. Another way is to say phrases like “Oh my God.” These type phrases are commonly used in daily speech without giving any thought to it. And society has accepted this, but according to the Word of God it is blasphemy.

Idol Worship

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve the; for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” – Exodus 20:4-5

This has taken many forms throughout history but basically it the remaking of God into a form created by man. In ancient times they used the sun, stars, animals, or mythic personalities and hero’s. We do it by transforming God into a philosophy, family, feelings, nature, or material worth. (America’s idol seems to be money).

God is supposed to reside at the center of our being. If He isn’t there then whatever is in His place,whatever makes us tick, drives us, or what we serve is our idol. For some it’s money, fame, sex, power, sports, a car etc… That idol may be something that moves us through life but will not save our souls in the end. Only God at the center can do this.

Disbelief

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:2-3

There is only One God and He had clearly revealed Himself

Through creation

Through our consciences

Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Today, even Archaeologists are bringing the truth of God in their digging sites.

God says that there is no excuse for disbelief (Romans 1:18-21). In the end the #1 reason why people lose their soul is because they refuse to believe in God, refuse to believe in Jesus who God sent with signs and wonders. The number #1 reason why followers of God lose their soul is because they stop believing what they once held as true.

All of these ways to lose your soul – lying, stealing, impurity, murder usually stem from a lack of faith in God and refusal to be obedient to God’s Son Jesus Christ.

When Jesus asked His disciples “What will you give in exchange for your soul” Jesus reminded them that the power of free will works both ways.

We can choose to believe and follow Jesus into eternal life.

We can choose to throw it all away by falling victim to the soul killers in the things I mentioned above.

The choice belongs to each of us, and we exercise that choice each and every day.