Fola Komolafe

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63 (NKJV)

In business we look for ways to make profit. Profit is good and sustainable so we choose to engage in activities that bring profit and not loss. In Gods kingdom business there are things clearly laid out for us that bring profit. For example, Jesus says, “It is the Spirit Who gives life, He is the Life-giver; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit (spirit birthed) and life (life giving) (John 6:63 AMPC).” He says clearly that the flesh or the way of the flesh does not profit, it conveys no benefit and leads to death which is the opposite of life. Profit is gained when you follow the Spirit and when you follow His words because in them you find the abundant expression of the quality of life that God is.

In John 6 Jesus had been speaking to His disciples about things some of them described as being hard. He was talking to them about the union and communion of oneness that comes by partaking in his flesh and blood. I guess for some of them trained in Jewish tradition, it sounded so contrary to everything they knew and they therefore could not understand or receive what He was saying. In the flesh, with human reasoning it did not make sense and they turned away from Him because they could not believe His words. No wonder Jesus said, ‘the words I speak to you are spirit and life – to be understood by the spirit and not by the flesh (my addition in italics)” For the disciples who turned away, this was their loss missing out on the God kind of life given to us by the Spirit.

Sometimes some things in the word may not make sense to us and may sound hard humanly speaking (for example love your enemies and do good to those who despitefully use you) because we were trained and taught differently before we became His followers. In those times we should stay with Him, choose to believe His words and allow His Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth. In this way according to Jesus, we will profit! The highest quality of life you can have as a believer is by following God’s Spirit who is the Life Giver. It is way above and beyond the flesh, many times over and beyond our human senses. So always strive to choose life, to choose the spirit, to choose the word and to choose to profit.

To profit means to be at an advantage, to be better, to prevail and to benefit. I am sure you would rather be on the side of profit as the other side is loss, disadvantage, to be worse off, to be defeated and to lose. I saw one definition for the flesh that says, ‘the flesh denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.’ But the scriptures say for believers that, “you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit of God really dwells within you, directing and controlling you (Romans 8:9).”

I encourage you to be determined to profit in Gods kingdom, to be prepared for profit everyday by choosing His words and choosing to be directed and controlled by His Spirit who is in you.

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