Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Where are the Profits?

Ecclesiastes 2:11  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.

Black Friday this year does not seem to be very black.  The sales on the day after Christmas seemed to be very weak compared to expectations.  Black Friday is the day when most retailers begin to show black instead of red as their bottom line on their income statements for the year.  No wonder the secularization of Christmas is so important.  If it weren’t for Christmas and all the buying and selling that goes on this time of year, our economy would go bust.  This is the way the world wants to celebrate and remember the Lord Jesus.  And of course they want to turn a profit doing it, just like those merchandisers that the Lord threw out of the temple when He cleansed it.

The Importance of Profits

Last year the coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes was on the verge of losing his job.  He wasn’t winning enough games.  This year, he is Iowa’s hero since up until now his team has won 12 games straight.  Now the seats in Kinnick stadium will be filled.  Alumni will open their wallets and will give generously to the University.  Winning teams produce profits.  Profits make a great University, at least it would seem that way.  One has to wonder how much the academic programs profit from the “scholarly and nonprofessional” pursuit of football at the college level.

This year the coach of the Iowa Cyclones did lose his job.  He wasn’t winning enough games.  The University was losing money on their investment in him.  Of course to fire him, they are going to lose a great deal more money because they will have to buy out his contract.  I think that will cost the University 4.5 million dollars.  I am not sure but what losing is more profitable than winning for the coach since he will likely find another job–just not as head coach of a football team.

But win or lose, what does it really matter?  Ultimately, we are all going to die and the things of time are going to be footnotes in the history books.  And whether a person wins or loses at football, at business, at all the wars presently producing profits for the capitalists running the wars, the end of all men is the same.  Apart from the return of the Lord, it is the grave!  And once there, does all this important stuff that we spend our time and energy and money on now really matter?

Proper Preparation does Matter!

Many people think that  there is no life, no consciousness, and no God after death.  If that is true, then what does this 70 to 80 year life span really amount to?  The richest and wisest earthly ruler that the world has ever known said it is all chasing after the wind.  Of course, it there really is a God to meet and an eternal existence beyond the grave, what happens on this earth is still grasping after the wind.  The Lord, the wisest man who has ever lived, said this in Mark 8:36, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

You see the problem has to do with the present time verses eternity.  Time for us is measured in years, days, hours, minutes and seconds.  I was always taught that in eternity, there is no time, but I have come to question that because in Revelation 14:11 we read,   “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."  No rest day or night!  That is an earthly measurement of time.  Imagine the horror of winning at the game of life and losing one’s soul for ever and ever and ever. Imagine having a mind that will be able to remember all the times God tried to reach you, and you rejected His warnings. No doubt you will be a believer then, but then it will be too late.

Do Overs!

Recently, I spent time with some children on tests in the Bible.  There is one test that we all need to pass.  It is found in 2 Corinthians 13:5 where Paul tells those who claim to be Christians, “ Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.”  We talked about different kinds of tests with the children including ones that you got to do over when you failed the first time.  The Hawkeye coach has passed his test at least for the time being.  Next year may be a different story.  The Cyclone coach has failed his test.  But these tests don’t really matter in the light of eternity.  And the test for eternity is not a do-over.  A person has one chance to get it right.

The intelligent person may realize that since eternity is so long and time is so short that, “yes,” we need to be prepared to meet God.  However, the world says there are many Gods, “Which one should I believe?”  That is a good question.  Me, I am going to believe the One who died for me and who bore the righteous wrath of God so I could go free.  I am going to believe the One whose tomb is empty.  I am going with the Lord Jesus Christ.  I see no profit in any other decision, and I see a great loss for those who turn away from His entreaties to trust Him.

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the week of November 29, 2015

 

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