THE ART OF INVESTING

Buying In

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share,  storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (HCSB)

I was always told when considering what stocks to buy to remember the “Golden Rule”. No, not the one that says “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, but the one that says “Buy low and sell high.” This seems to be the most important rule to remember. However, I think there is even one more important than that. It is making the decision to invest in the first place! When can talk about investing, we can analyze it and follow it, but until we participate in it we will never benefit for all the studying. The same is true about Biblical principles. They must be practiced to do any good.

The story is told about a group of guys who were returning from playing golf in rural Georgia. As they drove down a two-lane road they came up on a smoldering house. It was obvious it had burned during the night. Standing in front of the smoldering ashes was a distraught woman with a small child. The men were Christians, so they stopped the car and asked if she was okay. She said nobody was hurt but she had lost all she had. The men each pulled a few dollars out of their pockets and handed it to the woman and said, “God bless you.”

They drove off in silence. After a couple of miles the driver stopped the car and took off his golf hat. He turned to his buddies and said, “Okay, take out your wallets and give me all the money you have and we’re going to go back and give it to her.” They emptied their wallets and one man even wrote a large check. The amount in the hat totaled over $1,000.

When they returned, they found the woman standing in the same place. The driver got out and said to the woman, “We just gave you some money, but we made a mistake. Would you be willing to give me all that money back?”

The woman looked at him as if he was crazy, but without complaining she gave him the few dollars they had given her. The driver then added that money to that inside his hat and handed her the whole hat. Then he said, “We’ll be sending you more.”

What a great picture of the fulfillment of this parable. God asks us to give Him all we have—and we don’t have that much—and what we have He gave to us in the first place. But when we willingly surrender everything to Him, He pours out so much blessing we can’t even contain it all!

Today’s Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank You for the many blessings in my life. Help me to count the ones I have and not dwell on the ones I want. Help me to trust You in every area of my life, even with the material blessings I so enjoy. May I use them for Your eternal purposes and not merely temporal pleasures. In Jesus Name, Amen.