Prosper Your Soul -- The Rest Will Follow

The soul of a man is crucial, and requires greater respect and attention than all our wealth and worth in this world:

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16: 26)

Jesus spared no recrimination for those who treasured the things of this world at the expense of their inner well-being. At the end of his sobering parable on a rich man with more stuff than he could store, Jesus relates his final comments:

"And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

"So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.  (Luke 12: 18-21)

Where should we be laying up treasure?:

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:" (Matthew 6: 20)

What greater repository of the treasure of heaven than the Kingdom of heaven, which we receive though the Holy Spirit!:

"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14: 17)

Through the Holy Spirit, we have God's Word dwelling in us:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3: 16)

It  is the Holy Spirit who reminds us of everything that the Word made flesh has taught us ( John 14: 26), and because we have the Holy Spirit, we do not need anyone to teach us anything (1 John 2: 20-27):

God's Word is our storehouse, our never-ceasing treasure-house (Matthew 13: 52), the meat that feeds us (Matthew 4:4)

Most importantly, by meditating on God's Word (Joshua 1: 8), God causes us to be in health and prosper in all our doings (3 John 2)

Prosper your soul -- mind, will, and emotions -- through the washing of the Word, and the rest will follow!
3 John 2