CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 877

“The Bottom Line”

…there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. (Acts 19:23,24)

Happy HallowThanksMas! That seemed to be the appropriate retail services greeting beginning in September. The Gospel of Jesus Christ stood in the way of the bottom line for Demetrius’ idol crafting business and he incited a riot against Paul. Jesus continues to stand in the way of an unrighteous bottom line today.

People desperate for employment are paid minimally and exploited as seasonal help before being discarded as easily as yesterday’s newspaper. Retailers, in pursuit of a greater bottom line have tossed family values to the side and are opening on Thanksgiving Day denying employees respite time with their families in celebrating God’s blessing. (James 5:4-6)

The pursuit of the bottom line of unrighteous mammon has made retailers fearful of offending those who are offended by Jesus Christ. Therefore, the greeting of ‘Merry Christmas’ has been replaced with ‘Happy Holidays’. Christmas trees are marketed as ‘Holiday Trees’ or ‘Xmas Trees’. The time to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, our savior has been replaced in large part with a time to celebrate our love of mammon.

Retailers are not solely to blame. They are only giving the public what it wants. Like the rich young man who asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life the heart of our society is after greater possessions and wealth. (Mark 10:17-22) No one is forcing people to camp out for days before Thanksgiving hoping to be the first to buy the latest and greatest gadget.

How about you and me? Is Jesus standing in the way of our bottom line also? If God were to ask us to give it all up – house, cars, wealth, and to come follow Him, would we – or would we go away sad? If God were to allow you to win a multi-million dollar sweepstakes one day and then ask you to give it all away the next day, could you? (Luke 12:16-21)

Do you rush to ‘tithe’ at the end of the year because of the tax deduction rather than act in faithful obedience to God’s stewardship principles throughout the year? Would you continue to tithe if there was no tax deduction for it? (Malachi 3:8-10)

Does what God’s Word say about fair wages for your workers or submitting to authorities or the love of money get in the way and conflict with your personal or business practices? Are you prone to ‘stretch the truth’ on your income tax forms?

All the wealth of this world is not worth the value of the pavement on the streets of heaven. (Revelation 21:21) May your heart’s bottom line be for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. May you be free from the entanglement of material possessions that possess you and hinder your freedom to follow Christ as He directs. May you be a catalyst in our society to put ‘Christ’ back in Christmas.