Hope of profit

“But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities”  Acts 16:19

Hope of profit – Nobody cared until it was a question of money. 

How much are we like the masters of this slave woman?  We don’t pay any attention to the slaves of God in our midst until they disrupt our real priority: money.  Then we fly into action.  We drag the violators into court.  We sue.  We demand punishment. 

In our world, slave fortune-tellers possessed by evil spirits are not so obvious (although they may still be quite common).  Today our slave fortune tellers come in other forms:  the Dow Jones Industrials, NASDAQ, the Robb Report, the IRA statement, the 401k.  All future projections of profit.  All fortune telling.  The Chinese have an appropriate proverb:  Prediction is very difficult, especially when it is about the future.  Yet we all count on these.  They are our hope of gain (elpis tes ergasias).

Along comes a message from God.  One of His slaves intervenes in our carefully crafted future.  In our day it is more likely to be a message against abortion or the war, a group that opposes a government entitlement or a new ministry that exposes some corrupt practice.  Suddenly money is at stake.  And the followers of Jesus are to blame.  The world springs into action in defense of its real god.  No one cared until the god they really served was attacked.

This raises some interesting questions:

Does your message of the good news stir up the gods of this world?  Or is the message so accommodating that no one pays any attention?

Do you take a stand on the power that binds us to hope of gain?  Or are you a willing prisoner to the god of money?

Would you act to remove a false and idolatrous dependence in another?  Or are you likely to not want to stir up things?

Can you be a Christian and drive a $70,000 car?  (Ask Tony Campollo about this one).