Christian Bible Tracts - Sin and Sex

There you see a pair of scales. One side hangs down, as though it were heavily loaded, and the other rises upward, as though it had only a light burden to bear. On one side we see a representation of the World, and the other is supposed to be borne down by something more solid and valuable than the world itself - even a SOUL. A SOUL on one side, the WORLD on the other. What a difference! Bear this in mind, and you will see the force of the question. "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul!" Mark viii. 36. Your soul is greatly superior to the world, and should not be exchanged for it.

A little blind girl once asked, "What is soul?" Her instructor answered, "That which thinks, feels, hopes, loves." How little, how meagre, how trivial are all the pleasures, riches, honors, and glories of the world. "One soul OUTWEIGHS them all." You have only one soul, and if you lose that, all is gone forever and ever. We sometimes lose ONE friend, but we have others left. Sometimes one portion of property will be taken away, but some other portion remains. Lose the soul, and ALL is gone. You cannot recall it, you cannot replace it. "He that is unjust, LET HIM BE UNJUST STILL." Rev. xxii. 11. Your soul cost an immense price, and is valuable beyond all computation. "Ye are bought with a price." 1 Cor. vi. 20. That "price" is the blood of the Son of God. "We have redemption THROUGH THIS BLOOD." Eph. i. 7. Estimated by its cost, how valuable the soul is! What profit will it be for a man to lose his precious soul, and have nothing in exchange, but a VAIN, WORTHLESS, DECAYING world. That soul will live on forever and ever. Yea, it will live, "when the riches, powers, and pleaures of the world have passed away like a snow-wreath beneath a vernal shower." - ROWLAND HILL.

Gain as much of the world as you can CONSISTENTLY, but at the same time resolve to save your soul. A collegian, distinguished for his mathematical attainments, was fond of challenging his fellow-students to a trial of skill in solving difficult problems. One day a class-mate came into his study, and laying a folded paper before him, said, "There is a problem I wish you would help me to solve," and immediately left the room.

The paper was eagerly unfolded, and there, instead of a question in mathematics, were traced the lines, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

With a gesture of impatience he tore the paper to atoms and turned again to his books. But in vain he tried to shake off the impressions of the solemn words he had read. The Holy Spirit pressed home his conviction of guilt and danger, so that he could find no peace till he found it in believing in Jesus. He subsequently became a minister of the Gospel he had once despised, and his first sermon was from the words, so blessed to his own soul, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

The apostles were very full, because very empty; full of the spirit of God, because empty of the spirit of the world. - ST. AUGUSTINE.