963 Gaining Life - Luke 9:25

What is your net worth?   "For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" Luke 9:25 ESV   One of the recurring questions I experience in life is what would happen if I gave more of my stuff to help others. I use the phrase "my stuff" because I grew up in the days of George Carlin. Our "stuff" is a reference to our possessions, our riches, our things. I wonder what would have happened if I had given more of it away.   Jesus is in this series of statements that we've been discussing for a few days now. We live in a world where we know that one day, our money will be worthless. I heard someone once describe it as owning the currency of a government that was about to be overthrown. We know the end is coming. So why would we hold on to the money? Why wouldn't we take all of the old money and purchase things that would have a value in the new economy.   This is exactly what Jesus is questioning here. What good is it if we accumulate a bunch of wealth today that will be worthless tomorrow? How silly would we feel? Many of us work our whole lives to save up money and have a lot of stuff. Then we die and it all goes to someone else. If we do this in the extreme, we forfeit ourselves, according to Jesus.   We have another Marketplace Mission Trip coming up in just a few days. This is a 2-week exercise to practice following Jesus rather than forfeiting ourselves. Check it out and request an invitation at www.MarketplaceMissionTrip.com.