Define Profit


To command and audience is to beg greed to come and destroy innocence. Similar to a healthy and contented man devising ways to end his life.  

Compromise will entertain humanity. Accolades will surely follow. Profit will come visit. And what was intended to be best among man quickly turns sour and destructive. It becomes a hint of truth, not the blazing, holy, Life filled words of God.  


I could earn money arranging words. A great many have. All they have to do is throw water on the fire. But what I write is freely given. None of it comes from me. And it is wise to fan the flames, not water them down.  


It would be like a salesman who is sent by a strong merchant to sell wares along the road, and as the people stop and purchase, the salesman puts the profit in his own pocket. When he returns to the one who sent him what reward will he turn over?


The merchant has been generous. He has sold beautiful, expensive, rare, lasting, and precious things to an unworthy and impoverished rabble. How could the salesmen be so greedy? How could the salesman be so stupid? What possible use is he to those he was sent to help? And how will the salesman be received by the one who sent him.  


No. I am of the unworthy and impoverished rabble. Let me receive the things that belong to me. Let me work with my hands, as the example of the Apostle Paul shows us.  


The last thought this:


When I offer the pure things of my Master, the impoverished rabble will pass me by. Even this is profit to my Master. What then, is the payment for the things he offers so freely? And how grotesque to receive money and praise for such work done?


THINK ETERNITY!

Value-Driven Truth


I have not yet parsed the following truth into an edible format.  So please forgive me if it isn’t a cute little saying.  I’ll try to keep this very short, but it’s packed with volumes of understanding.

Pride and education are firmly bound together.

If I try to give free advice to someone, they are not likely to consider it very valuable.  It doesn’t matter how priceless the advice may be.  If it cost them nothing they equate free advice with trivia.  Or perhaps worse, that I’m meddling in their affairs.

On the other hand.  If I make someone pay tuition to sit in a classroom and receive that same advice, they are likely to consider it priceless.  Having said that, I could make someone pay tuition and feed them nothing but lies and they would think it is priceless truth.  Oh wait, that’s what most modern colleges are doing.

If I speak the truth to a stranger, he thinks I am proudly wielding wisdom.  He considers me to full of myself.  If I put that same information in a fortune cookie, the receiver thinks he has found gold.

I’ll say it again and let the reader stew over this.  Pride and education are firmly bound together.

Consider:
The message of Jesus is free to any man who will listen.  He has come to us from heaven and given us heavenly words.  What he gave us is beyond any possible price.  But the world treats his words as if they are useless.  Or at best, they are useful for children only.

If he had charged admission, I suspect the world would treat his words greatly different.  And if the church would charge admission on Sunday mornings, I would guess the pews would be packed full.

You think that’s too much to say?   I don’t.

How Much?


Can you name anything on earth that’s free?  Everything costs something.  Even breathing requires an expense of energy from the lungs.  So, even air is not free.  We pay for it by physical labor.  Someone will say, “It’s a voluntary reflex.  And the energy expended is so small”.  But something is paid, regardless.  Isn’t it?

The Christian will tell you that salvation is free.  Now, I will differ with that.  We must believe that God’s word about himself is true.  That’s an expense of personal security, (at least as we perceive security) isn’t it?  Even salvation costs us something.  And the deeper we travel into Christ’s Holy will, the more we are asked to give up.  The more of our “trustworthy” perception we’re asked to relinquish.

I was going to target this idea to the atheist and such like.  But as I went to the Lord about it, I remembered the faithless Christians I’ve met.  I’m not going to go into an attack here.  But it’s important to make this point to all men, evidently.

If you want salvation from the Holy Lord of Life, you’re going to have to be willing to surrender some portion of your “dearly loved security”.  The more you sacrifice your safety, so that you can rely on God, the more He will grant you faith.  And why wouldn’t this be so?

From the man who is sure there is no God, to the one who thinks Christianity is a social club, you need to understand this.  Nothing on earth is free.  And the cost of Christianity is everything you’ve got.

Truth without pedigree


The University of Sydney, established in 1850,...

The University of Sydney, established in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is a serious handicap if we must know a man’s credentials before we trust his words.  And if he has no credentials we assume him to be either a liar or a fool.

How wonderfully freeing to accept the truth where you find it regardless who brings it to you.  And how mysteriously humbling.