As long as I have
been a believer I have heard that the soul of just one man is of inestimable worth. And I
believe it. It was for the soul of man (and I am convinced even just one man)
that God gave His only begotten Son. It was for the soul of man that Christ
gave His own life on Calvary , holding His
peace at the mocking and restraining the angels for defending Him at the
violence of His death.
It is the value of the soul of
man that has led Christians to sacrifice comfort and family to preach the
gospel in far off lands. The value of a soul has led millionaires to give away
fortunes and the impoverished to sacrifice food on their family's table so a
missionary may be sent. Preachers have pled for souls to be saved, knowing the
value of that one soul. Some with right intentions have employed phrases such
as "The Main Thing is to Keep the
Main Thing the Main Thing" and "Win the Lost at Any Cost" to stir Christians to make the
winning of lost souls the main thing in their lives. This perceived value of
souls has also (I believe) misled some Christians to employ pragmatic means to
"reach" lost souls at the expense of separation, doctrine and
Christian methodology. I mean to point out today that there is one thing that
is more valuable than even the soul of man; truth.
By the word truth I mean
something deeper than simple verifiable facts. I might go so far as to question
whether those are real truths at all. Verifiable facts are merely that; fact.
Truth carries with it something more substantial, something moral. Truth is and
originates with God.
That truth is more valuable than
a soul seems apparent to me in that, when Adam and Eve fell, God did not
overlook it. God gave Adam and Eve and indeed, the soul of every man the
opportunity to choose his own soul or truth. That a soul ever ends in hell is
evidence that God places more value in truth that in a soul. If He had chosen,
God could have set truth aside and let all souls enter heaven. God chose truth
over the soul.
- God chose truth over the souls of the pre-Flood
generation committing thousands and possibly millions of souls to perish
rather than allow them to continue living in rebellion to his truth
- God chose truth over the souls of those in Sodom
and Gomorrah, raining fire and brimstone upon them and dooming them to
eternal hell
- God chose truth over the souls of Pharaoh and his
armies drowning them in the
- God chose truth over the souls of individuals in
Israel, slaying them for their sin with Aaron's golden calf and condemning
an entire generation to die in the wilderness.
I do not mean that God did not
care. I am convinced that God grieves over the souls over every sinner who chooses
his sin over God's truth. However God places such value on truth that,
regardless of the cost, He always chooses truth over the soul.
Modern Christianity would do well
to take a clue from God. The current pragmatic kind of Christianity that allows
practically anything to go so long as we are seeing assemblies gathered
together and souls supposedly being converted is contrary to the very nature of
God.
The soul of man is of inestimable
worth. Truth is of far more value than that.
Marvin
McKenzie
In the
fields
