What Shall It Profit a Man?
By T. E. BOWEN
Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” These earnest words must have been addressed to some who followed the Saviour, thinking that they would be benefited in a worldly way by so doing. Jesus read their secret thoughts, and directed a stern rebuke at this low motive. It was put upon record so that all his followers until the close of time shall understand that they may expect no reward if the motive of their service reaches no higher than self-serving. It is worthy of notice that Christ permitted one disciple to follow him during his three and one-half years of earnest earthly toil, a man unworthy of the name of being his disciple, who had no higher motive actuating him than to think that somehow, at some time and in some manner, he should derive earthly honor, temporal gain, by identifying himself with Jesus. That man was Judas. And when on the last night before our Lord’s crucifixion, when the great Commander of heaven, the glorious Son of God, clothed with humanity, stooped in the humble act of a servant to wash Judas’s feet, that very offer was misinterpreted by this selfish soul to mean that surely one stooping to such a menial act as that could never become a king, and if not to be a king, then surely there would come no honor, no exaltation, no personal gain to himself, by following him further; and hence the final decision was then and there reached which sealed his doom: he left the presence of his Redeemer with his sins unconfessed to go out into the gloom of eternal night,—a lost soul forever. Did he make anything by following Christ for gain? Instead of denying himself, he served himself. Many were the rebukes Christ’s lessons brought to him as he listened to his teaching by the seaside, upon the mountainside, and at feasts; yet he resisted them all, and went on in his course of covetousness and greed, opposing the Saviour by dropping among the disciples seeds of doubt which led to contention among them. The record of this life, ending in the blackness of despair, should ever be a warning to every disciple of Christ. If the motive of worldly advantage is held up as an inducement to accept Christ, let it be known that the rebuke of God is upon that thing. With some it may have become a popular thing to join the church, so that in the business world they may obtain a better standing. All such disciples prove a hindrance instead of a help to the real cause of Christ. He asks for no such service. Ponder the weighty question, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” If lost at last, what possible use can the property of this world be to him? The more he has, the more he will have to cast away, as Judas threw down the thirty pieces of silver—the price of his Lord. Every man who names the name of Christ, and does not count all he has as belonging to Christ, placed at his disposal, to be used as his cause may demand, does the very same thing that Judas did; he sells his Lord for a little of earth’s treasure. Christ reckoned that one soul is worth more than all the treasures of this world combined. At first thought, this seems almost impossible. One thinks of the untold millions of dollars of gold and silver laid up in the vast treasuries of the world; the mammoth buildings, displaying great wealth; the enormous sums of money invested in railroads, steamships, vast cities, and farming lands. What! one life redeemed and placed in the city of God of more value than all this? God says so, and he knows. Wise, indeed, will be that man or woman who so sets the affections on things above, and not on things on the earth, as to gain the heavenly treasure—eternal life. That life is given us in Jesus Christ. He is the treasure, the one pearl of great price, that by selling all we have, by counting our all as loss, we may obtain. Thus he who now yields his life to Christ in loving obedience, shall find it again in the kingdom of God.