What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Many a times I've come across stories of magical genies popping up from a bottle, a lamp and the magical wishes they grant. There were times in my growing years I had wished chancing upon one such mythical figure but you know the end just as well as I did.

All this stems from the fact our desire to have everything we want in this life. If anything, life teaches us nothing comes that easy and more so whatever is it that we achieved will never satisfy us fully.

No arguments with that I hope.To add weight to this yearning the story about a stockbroker, though a folklore, is a rather poignant.

In this story he appeared to encounter a genie and was offered just one wish, to which he asked he be given a copy of the local newspaper dated half a year into the future.He hurriedly turned to the financial page of the local daily, hoping to make a killing in the market.More than what he bargained for is what he got. On the opposite end of the page was an obituary of him with clear details of his horrendous death the preceding day.

Mark 8:36 has a clear message: "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"

Whilst we cannot know what the future holds, we however can ask the Lord to turn us away from trivial pursuits and direct our hearts to follow Him.

That was the prayer of Moses in Psalms 90;12: "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."