How Much Was Whitney Houston Worth When She Died?

This was the heading of an article that was written which I found on Google News early on Tuesday morning, February 14, 2014. The body of the deceased singer had barely reached the funeral home and days before her body would be buried when numerous writers began filling the newspapers and other medians of communication with such unimportant matters. This person had a beautiful voice and everyone who has ever heard her sing “I Will Always Love You” will testify to this truth. There is no doubt but that she made multiple millions of dollars in her life time but when a person comes to the end of life on this earth, it doesn’t really matter whether you have all the wealth in this world. Jesus said: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life” (Matthew 16:26)?  The rich man in the story that our Lord told lost his soul in torment, not because he was rich but rather that he left God out of his life. The poor man whose name was Lazarus was in “Abraham’s bosom”, not because he was poor; rather it was because he included God in his life (Luke 16:19-31). The measure of a person’s worth is not how much silver and gold one may accumulate in this life. But, this is what counts the most in the eyes of so many people. The Preacher said, “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). The patriarch Job exclaimed, following the tragedies he experienced, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). In my understanding, the question raised in the heading of this article is really not important and was in poor taste so soon after the death of this icon in the music industry. The question ‘what was the worth of her soul while she lived’ is more appropriate. And that is applicable for all of us. The answer is found in the familiar passage in John 3:16, 17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The apostle Paul expressed the attitude of God in this manner: “For this good and acceptable in the Sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:3, 4). In short, God wants all mankind to be saved and He provided the way of salvation through the death of His Son on Calvary. Those who believe in Jesus Christ and are submissive to His will by repenting of sins and are baptized in His name will have that salvation (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38; 2 Timothy 2:10).