Shame And The Soul

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?" - Mark 8:36-37 ESV

A good question.

Guilt is when we can't face what we have done. Shame is when we don't want to live with who we are. It is self hate.

Our soul is who we are. We are souls with bodies.

Jesus valued souls highly. What about us? Jesus continued doing what He was doing until they hung Him on a cross. Then He gave his life so our guilt and shame would be covered and blotted out.

He loves us. Our soul is precious to Him.

Today I'm going to let God love me. I don't have time for shame. I won't sell out to guilt. It is finished. The cross has paid for my soul issues.

It has also paid for your soul issues. Jesus has a way out of our love/hate relationship with ourselves. It is called the cross.

"And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?' And they told him, 'John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.' And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, 'You are the Christ.' And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.' " - Mark 8:27-38 ESV

Peter eventually stopped selling his soul to preserve his life. He had better things to do.

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