In the world of commerce the goal of each business is to make
a profit for the business. A retailer wants to profit from sales to its
customers. A wholesaler wants to profit from its sales to its retail customers.
A manufacturer wants to profit from its sales to either its wholesale customers
and/or its retail customers.
What about the individual worker on a salary or a wage? An
individual profits when he or she receives the agreed amount due to them for
the labour they have expended in obtaining that money. The employer on the
other hand wants a profitable return on the money it pays out on wages and
salaries.
For any business to survive it must not only be profitable;
it must continue to make profits. If its expenses are continually more than its
income then it cannot survive for it is in a loss situation. Its creditors can
petition the Court to wind them up and cause them to cease trading. If this
happens there is loss all round; the creditors lose money, the employees lose
their jobs and often customers don't receive goods owing to them.
Let's look at some passages of Scripture referring to profit.
Proverbs 10:2, "Treasures
of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death."
Proverbs 11:4, "Riches
do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."
Jeremiah 7:8, "Behold, you trust in lying words that
cannot profit.
Jeremiah 12:13, "They have sown wheat but reaped
thorns; they have put themselves to pain but do not profit..."
Jeremiah 23:32, "Behold, I am against those who
prophecy false dreams," says the Lord, "and tell them, and cause My
people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them
or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says
the Lord.
The above verses inform us that
ill gained treasures profit nothing when death arrives. Those who trust in
lying words profit nothing. Remember the Devil is the father of lies (John
8:44). An unrighteous person sows in unrighteousness and then reaps pain and
bitterness. Those prophesying lies to the people of God will not profit the
people of God.
Mark 8:36, "For what will it profit a man if he
gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Material gains mean
nothing when death comes. When you die you leave it all behind! What was profit
turns to loss!
In the book of Job in chapter
22:2 this question is asked, "Can
a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to
himself?" The crux of this matter is that a man may be wise in the
ways of the world, but is he profitable to God? He is not profitable to God or
himself if he "loses his own
soul".
Psalm 49:7, 8, "(7) None of them can by any means
redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him - (8) for the redemption
of their souls is costly [precious],
and it shall cease forever."
There is a way to be profitable to
God!
Psalm 49:15 states, "but God will redeem my soul from the
power of the grave, for He shall receive me."
How will God redeem me?
The apostle Peter tells us the
answer in his 1st Epistle. He is writing to Hebrew Christians who have been
scattered through persecution.
1 Peter 1:17-21, "(17) And if you call on the Father,
who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves
throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
(18) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like
silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your
fathers,
(19) but with the precious blood
of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
(20) He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but
was manifest [revealed] in these last
times for you
(21) who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and
gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
You can turn eternal loss into
eternal profit - today! Instead of being a lost soul, you can be a redeemed
soul.
Jon Peasey
Words of Life blog www.jrpeasey.blogspot.com
Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey
[All
Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted.
Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted
for clarity. Words in bold type
emphasise a point. You may notice some verses are quoted with ... at the beginning, ending or
elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or parts of the verse, that relate
directly to the current subject matter is quoted.]
[If
you have any questions or comments you are invited to contact me via the
comments section below.]
