Counting Your Profit and Loss
Terry J. Hallock
Philippians 3:1-11
April 9, 2000
Before God called me to His ministry 26 years ago I was employed as a store manager for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the Chicago district. Each month I would receive what was called a "PandL" report -- a spreadsheet printout of the profit and loss for my store during the preceding month. It would show my store's inventory, sales, accounts receivable and accounts payable. At the bottom of the report would be a plus or minus figure indicating whether we had made a profit for the company or experienced a loss. It was my job to study that profit and loss report and determine what inventory to reduce, what sales to promote, or what positions to cut in order to improve the bottom line. My entire career was vested in that monthly PandL.
This morning the Spirit is calling each of us to review our life's PandL. He is laying before us an uncompromising and starkly honest report showing whether our living has produced that which is profitable or that which is not. He is making visible the inventory that we have placed our confidence in. He is unveiling all that we have sold ourselves on and all that we have sold ourselves out to. Then He is cutting through all our rationalizations and self-deceptions to lay the clear bottom line before us. Do we have lasting hope in our hearts able to withstand all the trials of man? Do we possess a sense of being loved that is unconditional, immovable and eternal? Does our bottom line demonstrate that we are a person who knows who we really are, why we're really here, where we're really headed, how we're going to get there and that the destination of our life's journey has been worth the trip? Or does the bottom line of our personal P and L show something else -- something we'd rather not see, something we'd rather not acknowledge, but a result that is all too real? Has what we believed would produce hope left us with none? Has what we were ...
Terry J. Hallock
Philippians 3:1-11
April 9, 2000
Before God called me to His ministry 26 years ago I was employed as a store manager for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the Chicago district. Each month I would receive what was called a "PandL" report -- a spreadsheet printout of the profit and loss for my store during the preceding month. It would show my store's inventory, sales, accounts receivable and accounts payable. At the bottom of the report would be a plus or minus figure indicating whether we had made a profit for the company or experienced a loss. It was my job to study that profit and loss report and determine what inventory to reduce, what sales to promote, or what positions to cut in order to improve the bottom line. My entire career was vested in that monthly PandL.
This morning the Spirit is calling each of us to review our life's PandL. He is laying before us an uncompromising and starkly honest report showing whether our living has produced that which is profitable or that which is not. He is making visible the inventory that we have placed our confidence in. He is unveiling all that we have sold ourselves on and all that we have sold ourselves out to. Then He is cutting through all our rationalizations and self-deceptions to lay the clear bottom line before us. Do we have lasting hope in our hearts able to withstand all the trials of man? Do we possess a sense of being loved that is unconditional, immovable and eternal? Does our bottom line demonstrate that we are a person who knows who we really are, why we're really here, where we're really headed, how we're going to get there and that the destination of our life's journey has been worth the trip? Or does the bottom line of our personal P and L show something else -- something we'd rather not see, something we'd rather not acknowledge, but a result that is all too real? Has what we believed would produce hope left us with none? Has what we were ...
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