I love to sing songs. I can’t sing, and I don’t particularly want other people to be able to hear me, but singing songs is great. Sung worship to God can be a liberating experience and reminds us of the One to whom we are singing. If it doesn’t, it should, because it’s certainly not meant to be about us, except for us praising God, whatever that entails.

These lyrics are from a song by Matt Redman called “Living For Your Glory”:

What good is it to gain the whole world, but lose your soul?
What good is it to make a sweet sound, but remain proud?
In view of God’s mercy, I offer my all

And take my life, let it be everything, all of me
Here I am, use me for Your glory
In everything I say and do, let my life honor You
Here I am living for Your glory

The road I’m on that leads nowhere without You
And the life I live that finds meaning and surrender
In view of God’s mercy, I offer my all

Seeking first the Kingdom
Seeking first the Kingdom of my Lord

What good is it to gain the whole world, but lose your soul? We can have the whole world, but without a relationship with our Creator, it’s all for nothing, it’s all temporal, it’s all going to disappear. Just look at Jesus, when He went in to the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. Satan offers Jesus the whole world, but He doesn’t take it. He first refuses to turn a stone to bread in order to demonstrate His divine power. Then He refuses to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple. So Satan offers Him everything He can, with a snag, of course:

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

The the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

(Matthew 4:8-11, New King James Version [NKJV])

What good is it for me to gain the whole world, yet lose my soul because I have not acknowledged God and have been led astray by the tempter? What good is it for me to make a sweet soun, but remain proud? God loves the humble. Scripture is full of references to the humble. The most obvious reference is probably from James, but James actually bases his passage on scripture from the Old Testament:

Surely He scorns the scornful,
But gives grace to the humble.

(Proverbs 3:34, NKJV)

James is not a book for a quick-fix, feel-good factor. The Bible really shouldn’t be used for a feel-good factor anyway, but James is a very direct, clear rebuke to our lives:

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

(James 4:1-10, NKJV)

Why would we even want the whole world? It comes out of our selfish desire, for a desire for gain, to be better than others. But that serves us no purpose. Our purpose is fulfilled in submitting to God. Scripture promises that God, our faithful God, will not allow us to be tempted more than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13), and so He makes it possible for us to submit to Him and to resist the devil. He promises that the devil will flee from us when we resist him. If we choose to draw near to God, He will draw near to us. He will be our refuge and our stronghold – our very present help in our times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

What a faithful God I have. What a good God I have. And if He’s not yours, He can be yours too!