Winning the Wrong Game
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”Mark 8:36 (KJV)
Most of us are afraid of failing. A bigger danger might be succeeding at the wrong thing. You can hit every target at work and have your kids describe you as a man they barely knew.
Jesus told a story about a farmer who had a great year. His barns were full, so he planned to build bigger ones and finally relax. “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
The farmer wasn’t wicked for having a good harvest. He was foolish for thinking the harvest was the point. He won the game he was playing, and lost the one that mattered.
Jesus asks us all the same question: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Make sure the game you are winning is the one God called you to play.
Read it yourself
Read Luke 12:13–21. What does Jesus say at the end about being rich toward God?
If you hit every goal you’ve set this year, what might it cost you that matters more?
Lord, keep me from winning the wrong game. Help me be rich toward you. Amen.