John Wanamaker in his day was called “the king of commerce.” His sharp eye and superior business acumen enabled him to make his businesses prosper with large profits. But in his last years he liked to go back to his childhood days and recall what he felt had been the most important purchase in his life. He said: “In the course of my life I have made hundreds of transactions and bought properties for millions of dollars.
“But I made the most important purchase of all when I was a small boy, just eleven years old, and lived in the country. When in the Sunday school there, I bought a small Bible for $2.75. I worked to pay for it. And when I look back I see that that purchase has been of longer lasting value than any other I have made.”
God does not promise us in this world the wealth and success that John Wanamaker experienced. Some of His choicest saints and most faithful followers have had little of this world’s store, but He has pledged Himself to care for us all along life’s pathway, and He has promised us “an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:4,54To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:4‑5)).
The Lord Jesus tells us, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” (Matt. 24:3535Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35).) If you, dear reader, treasure in your heart the Word of God, not only will it enrich your soul in this life, but it will profit you through all eternity when the things of this life are past forever.
ML-02/25/1979