September 2004 Meditation
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)
I concluded the previous meditation with the pressing question, “My friend, is God your God?”
Your and my eternal destiny depends on the answer to that question. If you cannot answer that question in the affirmative you will lose your soul—even though you may have gained the entire world.
Some people are very quick to answer by saying, “Of course, God is my Father and I am His child.” Some make this claim because they believe in the universal fatherhood of God; i.e. that all men, regardless of their religious beliefs, can lay claim to being a child of God. Thus it matters not whether you are a Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.; God is the Father of all. Each religion is but one of the unique ways in which a human being can experience a father-child relationship with God. Those who hold to this view believe therefore that Christianity is but one of the many ways that lead to a relationship with God.
Should you subscribe to such a view, however, you will surely lose your soul. The Lord Jesus Christ, who uttered the words of our text, has made it crystal clear that there is but one, and only one, way in which God can be my Father and I can be His child—and that is only through Him. In words that cannot possibly misinterpreted, He states: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Therefore, any other way to God is utterly unacceptable.
Why is this so? Because all other religions deny the crucial truths taught in the Bible, the Word of the Living God, namely, that God is absolutely and perfectly holy and therefore cannot possibly have fellowship with unholy sinners such as we all are. Since God is holy and we are unholy, there is a chasm that separates us from God which cannot be bridged by human effort and merit. In other words, being as good a person as I possibly can be is not good enough for God to embrace me as His child and to be my Father. Our very best efforts come short of God's perfect standard of holiness.
Thanks be to God, however, He himself has provided that perfect holiness and righteousness in His eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He sent into this world to bridge the chasm between Him and the sinful children of men. By suffering and dying on the cross, thereby paying the penalty for sin, Jesus Christ Himself became the bridge between God and sinners.
Now, the wonderful message of the Bible is that any sinful human being who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be freely forgiven of all his sins, and may know that for Christ's sake God is His Father. Having said this, however, let me stress again that this is only the privilege of those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, putting their trust in Him and what He has accomplished on the cross. They, and they alone, have the right to call themselves a child of the living God—and thus gain their precious soul. This leads to the next crucial question: “How do I know that my faith in Christ is genuine, lest I be guilty of presumption and yet lose my soul?” We will broach this subject in our next meditation.
Pastor B. Elshout
