An old story comes to us from Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire. In that conquest Alexander's soldiers overran the palace of Darius the king. Looking for things to steal, one soldier came upon a leather bag containing the crown jewels of Persia. The stones were worth millions. However, the ignorant soldier dumped them on a rubbish heap, saving only the leather bag. He ran around the camp telling the other men about the marvelous bag he'd found to carry his food.

How often in life we throw away jewels and keep only the leather bag. We do it when we embrace pleasures at the sacrifice of our bodies, when we sacrifice our marriages to satisfy our lust, when we ignore our children in the search for material security, when we sacrifice our souls in our love affair with the worl…