The Price of a Soul

1st John 2 offers a passage of hope for someone who is struggling:(1b) if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.  5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

Jesus was our worthy substitute, the sacrifice for our sins.   He is the One who can offer peace for the human heart and the promise of redemption and eternal life.   If we are attempting to do good so that our good will outweigh our bad, we are missing the point of the cross - Jesus offers the free gift of salvation to all, and He will forgive our sins and give us a new heart so that can walk in His power and victory.   When our soul is troubled, He will provide us with His presence and His peace.

Mark 8 reminds us of the true value of a soul and the hope for redemption that we all can experience:
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

eBay has long been an excellent marketplace through which you can buy some items that are in good shape for a pretty good price, and sell some of your items.   There are vendors that re-sell new items, as well, and you can really get some good deals.  

Here's one of the more interesting items currently available on eBay:  a soul.   No, not a sole from a shoe or a package of filet of sole, but an actual, human soul.   And, it's billed as a slightly used soul!  I'm not sure what I would get for the asking price of $2000, but here's the bizarre, and really sad, story:


Lori N. is the seller - she was in a car that was hit by a drunk driver five years ago and was left in a coma for three weeks, suffered several broken bones and a stroke.   She can no longer work as a freelance writer.

Lori is quoted by ClickOnDetroit.com as saying, “What I’m going to deliver is the opportunity for someone to save my soul. They can save it through prayer, they can save it through conversion...And I’m also going to give them a certificate detailing the white and black marks on my soul.”

Lori said she is at the end of her rope and the ad might help her connect with somebody.

Here are some thoughts I had:
For one thing, it is impossible to put a price on the soul of a person - I believe that we are all created by God, and therefore we have infinite worth.

I don't think that you can actually sell your soul, literally, but the Bible teaches that you can give it away - by placing a higher priority on other things besides God, material possessions, sinful pleasures, even a reckless pursuit of evil.    We give our souls away to corruption by not surrendering to the lordship of Christ, and the eternal state of our soul is endangered by our own rebellion.

I think it's interesting that the "certificate" you receive with this $2000 investment details white and black marks.   So many people believe that there is some sort of moral ledger - some think that if their good works outweigh their bad that they will somehow go to heaven.   Some believe that God has some sort of grading system regarding salvation, but the Bible teaches that His system is pass-fail - and ultimately, our eternal destiny will be determined by one thing - what have we done with His Son?

The really, really good news is that God offers redemption to all who would receive it - the FREE gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.   You can know peace, and the moral ledger can be wiped clean because of the blood of God's Son.   Do you know Him - have you accepted this free gift, the cleansing of a soul, the promise of a right relationship with Almighty God?   It's possible today!