Profit And Loss

"What doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?" (Mark 9:36).

The question posed by our Lord to His apostles at a crucial phase of His ministry is searching and pertinent, and an appropriate one to reiterate as we enter 1972. To every one of us it presents an inescapable challenge. The profit motive is the 'hub of the world of commerce, and our Lord used it as a simile to impress the important spiritual lesson that a human life is a trading commodity in the market of heaven.

The question, "What doth it profit a man?... " is frequently used in the preaching of the gospel to the unsaved. We do not criticize its use in this way, but we are dealing with it here in its primary application to the life of the Christian. In the passage from which it is taken, and in the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, our Lord is dealing with discipleship in terms of profit and loss in the final account. Who better than He, the Lord of life, could give counsel on the vital subject of spiritual investment?

The problem of human life, its meaning and its purpose, has engaged thinking men down the ages. Its brevity and uncertainty are frequently emphasized in Scripture. James asked, "What is your life?", and compared its duration to a "vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14). Yet, as our Lord's words indicate, although the tenure of our life on earth is brief, its circumstances full of change and its end uncertain, it is the most precious commodity that God has given to us - the spiritual capital entrusted to every Christian.

Moses and Paul are outstanding examples of men who made a spiritual investment of their lives according to the principles laid down by our Lord. Both learned the lesson that life is expendable and not for personal aggrandisement. Each of them made a deliberate choice-the choice of faith. Neither received the plaudits of men; their gain is credited in the heavenly balance sheet. The accounting there is according to the principle:

"Whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:25).

Lot and Demas stand out in Scripture as solemn warnings against investing life for present gain and incurring eternal loss. Both men made a deliberate choice, and no doubt that choice was applauded by the worldly-wise: "Men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself" (Psalm 49:18). But Lot and Demas squandered lives full of opportunity; they bartered the future for the present, the spiritual for the material; the eternal for the temporal. Solemn thought! "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are, 'It might have been'."

Considerations such as these bring home to us the importance of profit and loss as we trade with our lives. The man of business must take stock periodically to discover the results of his trading. Stocktaking is a necessary exercise for the Christian, too; a time to stand back and take a careful look at himself. What are my priorities? What motivates me? What really matters to me? Do I measure up to the yardstick of true discipleship as the Master defined it? These are searching but necessary questions, and the beginning of a new year is a fitting time to face them.

Let us take a look once more at the counsel our Lord gave on this matter of discipleship:

"If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).

The disciple must carry a cross to crucify self. Some time ago I noted the force of the word 'daily' in this quotation. I found encouragement in the thought that each day brings a new opportunity. If I failed yesterday, and yielded to self and laid down the cross, let me not despair. I can retrace my steps and take up the cross again today; each day counts in the final reckoning.

"What is a yielded life?

'Tis one at God's command,

For Him to mould, to form, to use

Or do with it as He may choose,

Resistless in His hand.

What is a yielded life?

A life whose only will,

When into blest subjection brought

In every deed and aim and thought

Seeks just to do His will.

What is a yielded life?

A life which Love has won,