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To me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.   Philippians 1:21

Paul discovered that knowing Christ, his righteousness, and his resurrection is of supreme value now, and at death, this portfolio goes through the roof!

Imagine you were given a glimpse of the stock market in five years’ time, and you knew your information was accurate. What would you do? What if you knew that your pension fund would lose half its value in five years and that another stock would soar in that same time frame? You would move as much as possible out of the stock that’s going down and into what you know is going up.

Paul had seen the future. The risen Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and he caught a glimpse of what it will be like on the last day. He understood that what was in his portfolio would be of no use to him. He needed Christ, his righteousness, and his resurrection, whatever the cost, so Paul recalibrated his life.

We are surrounded by people who are afraid to die because they know that everything they have will be lost to them when death comes. Paul invested his life in such a way that the day he died would be an incredible gain.

One day the market will be closed. The opportunities of investing your life will be over. God will call, “Time’s up!” and then we will cash in our investments. On that day, some people will open their portfolios, and they will be worthless. Jesus said that people who are outside will weep, saying, “If only I had Christ and his righteousness. I’d give anything to hold that stock now!”

The Bible tells us what God will reward: praying and fasting (see Matthew 6:6, 17-18), having compassion for the vulnerable (25:34-40), bearing insults and being excluded for following Jesus (Luke 6:22-23), loving your enemies (6:35), giving generously (6:38), hospitality that cannot be repaid (14:12-14), enduring ministry pressures (2 Corinthians 4:17-18), performing quality work for your employer (Colossians 3:23-24), keeping faith through trials (1 Peter 1:6-7), and being faithful to the truth (2 John 1:7-8).

These are the great investment opportunities. God tells you what will be rewarded; the choice of how to live is yours.

For further reading, see Philippians 1