To gain the whole world means to possess it as our own--all its riches, honours, and pleasures. To lose our own soul means to be cast away, to be shut out from heaven, to be sent to hell. These words of Christ come to the very heart of the meaning and purpose of our life, our existence. Christ has been seeking to teach His disciples and all who would listen, that heaven can only be gained by a turning of the back upon the world's charms and apparent profits and a putting of the interests of the soul first.