🎵Prompt Response: For One Soul
If you had to sum up your life philosophy in one sentence, what would it be?
This has been my single-sentence philosophy for years. When it occurred to me that YahShua (Jesus) would’ve willingly gone to the cross at Calvary for just one soul, the value of each soul became clear. Every single human made in the image of Yahveh Almighty The Creator is worth everything to Him. For me, that means living every moment of my life as if He put me exactly where I am for the purpose of reaching at least one soul.
Living and reaching can be as simple as a smile, as quiet as a prayer, or as passionate as a warning to protect someone from destruction. If their soul was a body running into traffic, grabbing them and dragging them out of harm’s way would not seem harsh or cruel even if it hurt a bit. Sometimes, we may have to reach into the miry clay and fight to free someone from the grip of sin. In that, we are doing exactly what The Lord would do.
“[2] He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.”
He is able to deliver, and He gives us strength and wisdom to help reach out to those in our world who need deliverance. They may be praying for help, and we may be the vessel God sends to offer it. So we just keep living in every moment as if we’re ready to be used by God—and blessed in it.
About the value of a soul: I wrote back in 2013 about the poem by Myra Brooks Welch called The Touch of The Master’s Hand. It’s my favorite poem, and I think it’s worth sharing again…
The Touch of the Masters Hand by Myra Brooks Welch (1921)
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while
to waste much time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bidden, good folks,” he cried,
“Who’ll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar; then two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars twice;
going for three…” But no,
from the room, far back, a gray-haired man
came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
and tightening the loose strings,
he played a melody pure and sweet
as a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; “Now what am I bid for the old violin?”
And he held it up with the bow.
“A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand! And who’ll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;
and going and gone,” said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
“We do not quite understand,
what changed its worth?” Swift came the reply:
“Twas the touch of a master’s hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune,
and battered and scarred with sin,
is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
much like the old violin.
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
a game – and he travels on.
He’s going once, and going twice,
He’s going and almost gone.
But The Master comes, and the foolish crowd
never can quite understand
the worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
by the touch of The Master’s hand.
Wayne Watson put this poem to music:
And Janet Paschal sings a version of it called If You Had Known Me Before I Knew Him, though I wasn’t able to find it with lyrics:
And just in case you are interested, here is the poem made into an 18-minute movie with some very emotional parts:
Shabbat Shalom 🕊️
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