Eternity - Poverty

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 8
 
We were discussing the age-old problem of poverty and prosperity and commenting upon the sudden changes in life that quickly move a man from the heights to the depths. My friend and I were both thinking of the same individual. He had been prosperous and prominent, having made a "good mark" in the life and affairs of the community. Then, seemingly overnight, chaos and collapse had driven full force upon him, and he was reduced to a state of comparative poverty.
"Poor Edwards," said I. I would have continued, but was stopped by a solemn look in my friend's eye. And then there came that remark which I shall never forget.
"Let us not cease to remember that the poorest man in all the world is the man who has no home in eternity."
It is that which brings a tremendous change to the picture. A man may be stricken by a sudden turn in the fickle fortunes of life—as we say—and yet be in far better position than one who is always dwelling upon the "sunny side." It is "the end thereof" which determines the true gain or loss; and happy is that man who is identified as a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17), possessed of a loving Savior and a heavenly hope (John 14). Sad to say, "the end thereof" shall be quite different for those who were too busy for the Gospel, too proud to accept a crucified Christ, too self-important to be troubled about their starved and naked souls. The prosperity of the Christless soul becomes his eternal ruin, and nothing is left for him save "the blackness of darkness forever" (Jude 13).
"For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.
Who shall answer that solemn question given by Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)? Earthly prosperity at the frightful expense of total bankruptcy of the soul; gain that turns to gall before the gates of eternity; winning so much for the here and now as to pitifully lose everything for the hereafter and to abide with the everlasting burnings of remorse because of it. What a ghastly price to pay for a rejected Gospel and a spurned Savior!
Friend, have you made sure of a home over there, on the other side, with the blessed Lord Jesus? There is no poverty like unto that which faces the Christless soul in the bitterness of the Christless beyond. May His precious blood shed on Calvary be your happy gain here and now. Then will the countless "riches of His grace" add measure to measure forever and ever!