Have you heard the story of the man who played with a diamond? It was a beautiful, almost priceless gem. To buy it the man sold all of his possessions.
It was so beautiful when the sun shone upon it that he often held it in his hand, turning it from side to side to catch the rays of the sun. Then he found that if he tossed it into the air, the sparkles were almost breathtaking. So the man grew into the habit of playing with this large and beautiful diamond.
Once while crossing the ocean on a large boat a passenger noticed this man throwing and catching something that glittered in the sunlight. He could hardly believe his eyes when he came close enough to discover that it really was a large diamond.
“Oh, sir! How do you dare to be so careless with something so very valuable?” he asked.
“Careless? Of course I am not. I have done this often and I never miss catching it. Just look! Have you ever seen anything so dazzling in beauty?” and the man tossed the diamond into the air again.
At that moment the boat lurched sharply to one side. The man reached frantically for his diamond. It struck the very tips of his fingers as he reached far out across the rail for it—then into the depths of the ocean it sank!
Perhaps you wonder how anyone could be such a fool as to play with anything of such great value. May I ask you—are you, playing with something far more priceless than that diamond—your soul? “For 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: 36-37).
Bob had a strange plaything. It was a big artillery shell his older brother had sent home from the war. He had said it was a “dud”—one that was no good and would not explode. But Bob pretended it was real, and it made his war-game play exciting.
When Bob outgrew this playing stage, his mother used the heavy artillery shell for a doorstop in the kitchen. Visitors always noticed it and asked about it. Some thought it might be dangerous, but Bob and his mother always assured them that it was just a “dud.”
Then Bob’s mother began worrying about it. What if they should be mistaken—what if it really could explode? Finally to satisfy her mind she phoned the police about it, and an officer was sent out to examine it.
“Lady, if you ask me, you’ve got the real thing here!” the officer exclaimed to the startled mother. “To make sure, I’ll take it to be checked by a demolition crew.”
Imagine the horror of Bob and his Mother when the report came back that the huge artillery shell Bob had knocked around in play, and his mother had used as a doorstop, was a live artillery shell that could easily have exploded! The story was even reported over the radio to warn others.
There are many attractions and evils in this world with which Satan would like to fill the hands and lives of boys and girls, men and women that are far more deadly than that artillery shell. “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him (Satan) which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:2828And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)).
Do not “play around” with eternal things, boys and girls! Satan tempts each one of us with the pleasures and things this world has to offer, but though he gave the whole world to you, remember, it is like a great bomb about to explode! God has told us in the Bible that this world will be destroyed.
Your soul is more precious than all the diamonds of this world—do not treat it carelessly. “For how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation” (Heb. 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3)). The Lord Jesus felt your soul was worth giving His life for. Will you not receive Him as your Savior?