Christianity is Not For the Fainthearted
26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed…cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ _Matthew 25:26, 30
Interestingly, as we observed in my last blog, one of the ways Jesus described how the kingdom of Heaven works could have come right out a trader’s handbook for someone working on Wall Street.
While most people go about their everyday lives they are unaware that there is a huge war going on every day.
Wall Street, in NYC, epitomizes that war.
“for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”
Luke 16:9
At 9:30 a.m. (EST) a bell rings at the New York Stock Exchange and a massive struggle begins all over the world involving trillions of dollars and countless people’s lives and fortunes.
Traders compete against powerful computers, A.I., governments, big banks, hedge funds, trading houses, billionaires and millionaires and wannabe billionaires and millionaires and desperate people just hoping to get ahead in life.
Traders driven by their dreams and hopes and fears and greed battle each other daily. Thousands of them, going head to head trying to seize an advantage over their fellow traders, trying to make a profit at someone else’s expense.
The battleground (“The Market”) is soulless and compassionless. It has no honor, no values (except profit) and provides no redoes, no “Oops, can I take that trade back?”, and it gives no quarter, no mercy, and no charity. Its only objective is to reap where it has not sown and gain profit at any cost.
And that is how Jesus described the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is a far cry from the average hit-or-miss church goer who is satisfied with a couple 20 minutes no-controversary, soothing sermons a month and a few Chicken Soup for the Soul devotionals thrown in while downing a quick cup of coffee before hitting the door.
Honestly, its war out there and I’m not sure many of us really get it.
The ONE THING for today: Being a Christian is a high stakes endeavor. And the question the follower of Christ must daily ask is: “Am I profitable for the King?”
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
