Editorial: The Cover
The front cover of this volume pictured two men making a deal with each other.
“Big Deal”. Everything about it spells importance. The noises of the big city outside, the immense soaring structures; they look so permanent, so immovable, so secure. Inside is the crisp atmosphere of big business. The fever of the buyer is only matched by the anxiety of the seller.
At last the two parties get together. For this breathless moment, The Big Deal eclipses everything else. Oblivious to all around, nothing is more important … and the deal is made. What was sold? What was the profit? Who bought it? For how much? Was there any loss?
Well, I don’t know about the Big Deal on the cover, but I suppose that somewhere, someone is making a deal. Not for dollars, but a deal for life. A deal with the world and it’s pleasures perhaps. And the price? … a life for God.
The Bible asks the question, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can a man give in exchange for his life?”
It is a striking fact that we all lose our life somehow. Jesus said “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel’s the same shall save it”. That is, whoever saves his life for himself and his own pleasure, will lose it for God and His purposes, but whoever loses his life for himself, for the Saviour’s sake and the Gospel’s, he shall save it for God.
Perhaps the reader is not saved. What is your “Big Deal”? You GET, the pleasures of this “present world” (ever tried to measure the present? Why! the word “present” you just read has already gone into the past … forever). You LOSE a life for God down here, and the whole reason for your existence is to glorify God. You LOSE your precious soul in eternity. Above all you LOSE the Lord Jesus Christ. You LOSE His companionship, His rich blessings, NOW and FOREVER.
“Big Deal” ??? How can you be so utterly unwise?
Perhaps the reader is a Christian trying to get the best out of both worlds. Well, honestly now, are you really enjoying it? Are you satisfied, dabbling in the world and at the same time trying to enjoy the “fringe benefits” of salvation? Is the unequal yoke really more comfortable than the easy yoke of the Divine Carpenter? Honestly now, before the Lord, what do you really profit, and how great is the loss?
On the beach of the Curary River in Ecuador, fell a man under the spears of the Aucas, whom he loved for Christ’s sake and whom he sought to win for his Master. His appraisal of profit and loss was masterly. He said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, that he may obtain that which he cannot lose.”
What do I gain
As I seek in the world
It’s portion of pleasure to taste?
What do I gain?
Just a heart pain,
And years that are counted as waste.
What do I lose
As I turn from the Lord
His portion and treasures to spurn?
What do I lose?
All I could choose
And my life, for such meagre return.
J.B.N.