Biblically speaking, a profane person is anyone whose focus in life is only on the here-and-now. Several notable people in Scripture clearly illustrate this mindset and lifestyle: Esau (who valued a single meal over his spiritual birthright—Genesis 25:27-34), the foolish farmer (whose primary focus was on the accumulation and storage of his earthly treasure—Luke 12:16-21), the young ruler (who lived a religious and moral life but had no treasure in heaven—Mark 10:17-21), the younger son (who lived senselessly and wastefully in the far country until he came to his senses—Luke 15:11-17), and Demas (who forsook his spiritual responsibilities because of his love for this present world—2 Timothy 4:10).
Each person lived as if this world is everything. He preferred the carnal over the spiritual. These men were so worldly minded they were of no heavenly good. Such a focus of one’s life is shortsighted and eternally foolish.
It is possible for any child of God to become a profane person. It is sobering to be reminded that Satan is ever striving to blind us to the true value of heavenly treasures. Like the success he had with Esau, Satan diligently works to minimize the birthright every Christian has in Christ while seeking to convince us that the world’s "soup of the day" is far more important and of greater value.
Some of the saddest words Paul ever penned were about brethren who had become profane. As tears moisten the parchment, Paul wrote: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things" (Philippians 3:18-19).
Note the solemn terms Paul used:
"Many walk..." A notable number of people who had obeyed the gospel had at some point later chosen to think and live like an atheist instead of a Christian. These brethren in Christ had chosen to be profane, instead of holy.
"Enemies of the cross of Christ..." Their decision to be profane was not insignificant to Christ and His cause. It was an open declaration of war upon all that Jesus did when He gave His life as a ransom for many.
"Whose end is destruction..." There is no doubt about the eternal destiny of these spiritual traitors. Choosing to turn their back upon their eternal inheritance (1 Peter 1:4) as sons and heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17) and members of the church of the firstborn ones (Hebrews 12:23) has made their latter state worse than their first (2 Peter 2:20). It would have been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness (2 Peter 2:21).
"Whose God is their belly..." Self—the ultimate deity of all idolatry—determines how all profane people live. The lust of their flesh, the lust of their eyes, and their pride are the trinity of authority. Many profane people have no problem with living a life which has a form of godliness. They freely put the "lipstick" of loving God on the "pig" of loving pleasure and loving self (2 Timothy 3:2-5), and they think no one—not even the holy, omniscient God—can detect their profanity.
"Whose glory is in their shame..." All the things the profane proudly consider as evidence of their success and worth are, in fact, the infallible and everlasting proofs of their profanity. Just as the purple clothes, fine linens, and sumptuous fare were gloried in by the rich man while he lived, they were the undeniable witnesses to the justice he received in torment (Luke 16:19, 25). A profane person’s status symbols in this life will be their everlasting millstones in the life to come.
"Who mind earthly things." Unlike Moses who weighed the things of this life in the balances of eternity when he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt (Hebrews 11:26), a profane person foolishly believes that "he who dies with the most toys wins". "Thou fool" (Luke 12:20) is the terse analysis God gives for anyone who lays up earthly treasure but is not rich toward Him (Luke 12:21).
According to Romans 8:1, being right with God has two essential requirements: 1) Being in Christ Jesus and 2) walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh (i.e., being profane). Every Christian must beware of repeating the folly of Esau (Hebrews 12:15-16).