No one really wins with a forfeit

In the course of any given day there is a tremendous amount of background noise bidding for our attention. When everyone wants everything from us, is it possible to pour out our lives and not be depleted? In the New Testament Jesus was delivering some news that those who were closest to him did not want to hear. He turned to address them and then spoke to the crowd that was pressing around them all saying, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36)

Interesting choice of words: gaining and forfeiting. The one implies a slow ascent of an amassed collection over time, the stockpiling of what is important, or at least what carries the appearance of importance. The other is giving up.

No one really wins with a forfeit. One summer morning in a T-ball league where score was kept, a team of little boys sat anxiously on the bench. Not one uniform fit any boy. Some boys were too big for the biggest size, but most of the uniforms were so large they just hung on the boys' small frames. The stands were full of anxious mothers worried not that their boys would be hurt, but that at some point the safety pins would give way and their failings as a mother would be displayed on the field in all their sons' glory.

This Saturday morning in June the boys sat there anxiously kicking the dirt in the dugout, waiting for a team that would never come. After an eternity of 15 minutes the umpire declared the only team that showed the winner by forfeit.

It was a hollow victory. There was no joy of running the bases. There was no excitement in nearly catching the ball. There was no pain in almost winning. There was just an empty forfeit.

Jesus understood more than those little boys the emptiness that comes with forfeiting. His warning was greater than a game. It is the soul itself.

Over time a byproduct of gaining can be losing. The noise of pursuing success and amassing the world can eat away at your soul. It does not have to. Don't forfeit your soul. Intentionally choose to make your life more than the accumulation of stuff. Step away by yourself for prayer. Deeply invest yourself in others. Make time every day to nourish your soul.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.