Are We Despising Our Soul?

The story is told of a man who had a wonderful Christian family. His wife was considered the most loving, cheerful, and active homemaker in town. His teenage daughter was one of the most popular girls in high school, and his teenage son was considered by many town folks, to be one of the finest young Christian men they had ever known.

Every Sunday, his wife, son, and daughter attended church services. Every day, the three of them had a family devotional, but the father would have nothing to do with their religious activities. Although he believed in God, and was certain that the Bible was God’s word, he was just too busy with other things to be bothered about religion. His family was not allowed to discuss religious matters with him, because he thought that anything as unimportant as religion was not worth arguing about.

One day, while driving on a rain-slick road, a car suddenly approached him from the opposite direction on his side of the road. The two cars collided head-on, killing the man instantly. At his funeral, his family wept bitter tears of remorse — the preacher did not know how to comfort them, because the man had never made any sort of preparation to meet the Lord.

At the judgment, this man will learn that he actually despised his own soul. He will then appreciate the value of his soul, but it will be too little, too late. The wise man, Solomon, once said: “He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds reproof gets understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility” (Proverbs 15:32-33).

Dear reader, like the man in the above story,  if we are ignoring God’s instruction regarding our soul‘s salvation, we too are despising our soul. Let us be willing to humble ourselves before the Lord, and render willing obedience to His salvation plan today! (James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:5-6; Romans 6:17; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets