INFLATION—it's a word nobody likes but almost everyone talks about. It's discouraging to have prices rise continually, yet the inflation rate in the United States and Canada is really low compared to many third-world countries.
Our family lived in Bolivia when inflation rose to 200%, the highest in the world at that time. The government had to print bills with a value of 1 million pesos which were worth only about 50 U.S. cents. At one time we paid as many pesos for a small container of yogurt as we had paid for our house five years before!
A friend of ours in Bolivia went shopping for new shoes. He checked prices at several places in the market and decided to return to the first place. By the time he got back, the price had already gone up.
But during all the runaway inflation of Bolivia, one thing never changed in value. In fact, it has never changed its value for thousands of years. The soul of a single person who lived in Bolivia was worth more than all the world. The Bible says, What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36, 3736For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36‑37)).
You have one thing that is worth more than all the world—your soul. Have you considered where your soul will be when you leave this world? The Lord Jesus paid the greatest possible price so that you can be saved. He died that He might pay for your sins with His own precious blood. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18, 1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)).
Inflation may change the value of everything you own, but the value of your soul will never change.
Have you counted the cost if you should gain the whole world—and lose your own soul?