What Is My Profit?

If I want to lose weight, walking from chair to refrigerator doesn't count as walking. Oh, I'm taking steps all right. My leg muscles are propelling me forward. But the food consumption at the other end negates any benefit those ten steps might have gained. Those ten steps did not profit me anything.

What else in my life has no profit? It's a concept repeated in Scripture, both Old Testament and New. Jesus said, "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)

But as a believer, how does this apply to me? I know I have eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and God's grace is sufficient for every sin, even though I screw up multiple times every day.

Am I giving Scripture a Gumpy-like stretch to say it may refer to our interactions with others? My soul is saved. What about my neighbor's, my co-worker's, my friend's?

Look at Jeremiah 2:8. God is speaking through the prophet, chastising the priests and teachers of Israel: “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The [c]rulers also transgressed against Me, And the prophets prophesied by Baal And walked after things that did not profit."

God had given the priests and teachers the tremendous responsibility of helping the people of God know more about Him. They had failed, instead choosing to chase after things that did not profit. Oh, they profited their pocketbooks and need for recognition and status. But the people were losing more than a few coins.

I'm not saying American Christians are God's people Israel. We have been grafted in to that branch, but I think it's a mistake to apply every aspect of Israel's existence to us in a symbolic way.

That said, God has given Christians the task of sharing God's message with the rest of the world, and I think it is appropriate to complete some self-reflection. Is what I am doing walking after that which does not profit (anyone but me)? The mind-numbing games and fluffy murder mysteries aren't evil or even wrong. But they won't profit those around me.

I have many more hours a week to work with than most adults, for service, prayer, and sharing the message of God. I work part-time -- right out of the gate I have 20 hours more a week to either waste or use profitably than most. I have no kids that need chauffeuring. And yet I spend inordinate amounts of "free time" in mind-numbing activities.

I want that to change, and my God's grace I will. To borrow a phrase from the Casting Crowns song:

May the powers of darkness tremble as our praises rise Until the whole world hears Lord we are calling out Lifting up Your name for all to hear the sound Like voices in the wilderness we're crying out As the day draws near We'll sing until the whole world hears