Consider Your Investments

Consider Your Investments

Read: Mark 8:31-38

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Mark 8:36

“There are no crown-wearers in heaven who were not cross-bearers here below.”

—Charles Spurgeon

IN WORD If someone has a sum of money to invest, he or she will have to make some choices. The money can be put in full into one investment, or it can be divided among more than one. Many people choose this latter option in order to hedge their bets. But when one option is considered far superior to all the others, diversification takes a backseat to opportunism. Attractive investment opportunities draw all of our attention and all of our money for the possibilities they entail. We want to capitalize.

In the economy of God, one investment is clearly superior to all others. It’s a sure thing. And Jesus calls us to place all of our resources, time, and talents there—exclusively. Why? Because He knows the return it will yield, and He knows we will not be disappointed. But there is often a part of us that wants to diversify. We want to invest some in God’s kingdom, certainly, but also some in this world. We’re afraid to put our resources only in one place. Whether we put a lot or a little into the temporal, Jesus says, it’s a bad deal. The world will end in bankruptcy, and the kingdom of God will inherit all wealth. And its wealth will be everlasting.

IN DEED Human beings pursue comfort and pleasure with an alarming passion. It isn’t that comfort and pleasure are wrong; God created both for us to enjoy. But He never called us to pursue them. He never asked us to focus our attention on our earthly life span in order to make it as easy or profitable as possible. To the contrary, He constantly calls His disciples to take everything they have now and invest it in everything they know about God’s eternal kingdom. “Whoever wants to save his life [i.e., live for the “now”] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel [i.e., lives for the kingdom] will save it” (v. 35). Consider your investments well, and avoid the pursuits of this world. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.