Gain The Whole World but Lose Your Own Soul... What is Your Price?

“While money can't buy happiness,

it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” 

~Groucho Marx

 Someone said to me, “Rose the integrity you are showing is honourable and your (said) unwavering commitment to your values and what you stand for is commendable. BUT, all that means to me is that you haven’t gotten a good enough offer yet! EVERYONE definitely has their price.”

I couldn’t refute or argue his statement. This had me thinking… and I came to the conclusion that - YES - in most matters of life, we have to make decisions. Sometimes those decisions test us at the very core of who we are, and make us re-evaluate what we stand for. We all indeed have a price that can sway our first instinct, or our first programmed response. More than often, what is offensive (at first) can start to look pretty good with the right incentive. And what is the easiest, biggest and most persuasive incentive in the world: MONEY. The promise of easy cash makes the world turn at a faster pace. He then continues:

“Rose, I’ll give you $2000 cash if you eat a cockroach!” Now, I would definitely try to up the cash pay-out, but for that amount… I’ll cover the roach with hot sauce and take it down with wine (the thought already makes me want to barfL).

“Rose, I’ll give you $10,000 cash if you stand in a closet full of flying moths for 3 minutes!” Understand this; I have a phobia of those creatures BUT I will die (metaphorically) trying to earn that money (I’ll pray that I faint after 2 seconds).

“Rose, I’ll give you $300,000 cash if you go and live in an underground fallout shelter for 6 months, eating nothing but survival rations with no TV/internet/radio!” (at this point, we are starting to play with my emotions…)
“Rose, I’ll give you $1,000,000 cash if you give up a kidney” Do I really need both kidneys???

And who has forgotten the movie “Indecent Proposal,” where Demi Moore got offered $1,000,000 for a night of romance with someone other than her husband?

Well… “Rose, I’ll give you $5,000,000 if you sleep with… or let the hubby sleep with…” The hubby and I are having a conversation immediately!!!

You all have heard of this expression, “There is no such thing as free lunch.” Well… all that easy money you – potentially - are willing to “earn” (you better believe) has consequences and underlying strings attached, that will uncover itself in due time. You will have to be ready to deal with the fallout (good or bad) of your choices… nothing is ever as is seems…

But where I stand today, I clearly know where my limits are… There is no amount of money that will make me deliberately hurt (physically or mentally) someone, cause voluntary pain or be a wilful participant in someone’s unnatural demise… The damages caused would be irreversible to the afflicted one but even worse, they would haunt my conscious… my soul.

“To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world.

That's what everybody does every hour of his life.

If I asked you to keep your soul –

would you understand why that's much harder?”

~ Ayn Rand

When we start worshiping money instead of controlling it, that is when we lose perspective on what is wrong and what is right. And instead of standing for something, we put ourselves in a position of falling for anything and everything. "MONEY IS A GOOD SERVANT BUT A BAD MASTER."

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26

Keep in mind that Jesus was laid down to redeem our souls and give us back possession of them; clean for a new start and now you are talking about giving it away for mere gain in comparison. If once the soul is lost, it is lost for ever. There is no restitution —counter-price, that can be paid, or will be accepted. It is a loss that can never be repaired, never be retrieved. That new mortgage will never be taken off; there remains no more sacrifice for sins, nor price for souls, and the equity of redemption is eternally prohibited.

To gain everything the world has to offer you and lose your soul in the process means you have gained nothing and lost everything.

While we have to strive for a certain level of comfort in life, and work toward achieving goals - better, more for ourselves and our families - we have to be sober. Trying to achieve the American Dream by building all kinds of things for ourselves here on earth is fine, but we have to remember that the key word is STUFF (houses, cars, properties, social status, money, etc.). In the end these things won’t matter… You can’t take them with you. If you die with riches in the bank but with a bankrupt and neglected soul, you have less than nothing. At the end of your road, for that last trip you will take - the only luggage allowance you will have is that of your soul… make it weighty, and count for something; for it is the key to your eternal life.

Yes, I do believe that everyone definitely has their price. They maybe just don't know it yet, as they haven’t received a good-enough offer, or they know the worth of their soul and recognize that God already paid the ultimate price for it. Therefore, it is good to be wise in time, and do well for ourselves. Live each day in the light of eternity… don’t lose sight of it. No matter how great the potential reward, even gaining the whole world, the cost of getting there will include an irreversible change in yourself that is so bad for you that it will make you unhappy - regardless of what you have gained or think you have gained…

My dear friends, what are your thoughts on this subject? Do you have a price? Do you have boundaries in what you will allow money to sway you or your convictions are simply unwavering... no matter what?

RosieSandz 

Image courtesy of hragvartanian.com