Investment Uncertainty

This is long. I apologize ahead of time. I think it is worth the read though.

It has been quite awhile since the last installment of Reaching Forward Devotional. I'd like to write more, but, I typically write only when I am particularly gripped by -- "obsessing over" -- something. That is the way I learn from the Lord. He impresses upon me some thought which seizes my attention and holds it rather firmly for a considerable amount of time. In some sense, this latest topic is a continuation of the thought which seized my mind back in March or so -- contentment. You may recall that I wrote a previous devotional on the topic. Each month since has brought a continued emphasis on what it means to be content in -- but not with -- this world.

Not surprisingly, since that time life has been filtered through a lens which brings into focus such things as wealth, investments, gaudiness, haughtiness, materialism and the like. With perfect timing, the Lord has given me the desire and opportunity to immerse myself in a consideration of the life of the Apostle Paul. For me, the results of my study and teaching on this man have been earth shaking.

By the way, if I may be so bold, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, there has never been a man whose life has been more selfless or more Christ honoring than the Apostle Paul's. Nor has there been anyone who has had more of a lasting impact on the world than “Saul of Tarsus” - the Apostle Paul. There was a man, who, rather than laboring to build a huge fortune which could be enjoyed and then handed down to the generations, poured himself out and committed himself to be "rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up for [himself] a good foundation for the future, so that [he] might take hold of that which is truly life" (I Tim 6:19).

Paul was concerned with one thing and one thing only:

24 … I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Now that was a man who understood what it meant to take hold of that which is truly life.

Of course, the Lord Jesus, was Paul’s teacher. In an episode which occurred when Jesus was just 12 years old, his parents left Jerusalem heading for Nazareth, thinking that Jesus was traveling with relatives in the same caravan. After a day or so they became aware that He was missing. Rushing back to Jerusalem and searching for him, they finally came upon Him in the Temple, where he sat, asking questions, answering questions and amazing his hearers. Understandably, his parents were equally amazed and concerned. When they questioned Jesus, he said, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father‘s business?” On another occasion, when speaking to a young man who wanted to be His pupil, Christ said, "Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but [I] have nowhere to lay my head." Christ didn’t even have his own bed! (Shame on us for thinking that we have it so bad!) There was no room in Christ’s life for the allurements of this world. He had only one priority.

Paul, as a good student, emulated His teacher in every way. He was a man who was singularly devoted to doing His Savior's business. In a letter to the church in Corinth, Greece, Paul commended himself to them as an Apostle of Christ who was "poor, yet making many rich." Of course he spoke of spiritual riches; such as being adopted into the family of God and being forgiven of all our sins, and being clothed with the life and righteousness of Christ Himself! But, Paul was poor in this world. He worked with His own hands to provide for His own needs and for the needs of others. As he said in Acts 20:

32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

At any rate, over the last several months these things have captivated my mind, and have led me to examine my own life, plans and pursuits. It has also caused me to step back and look at the modern Church as we know it in America. But, that will be the thrust of a future Reaching Forward Devotional. For now the focus is on us as individual Christians.

It appears that we in the modern Church have become rich and are content "WITH" this world. Rather than being like Paul and emulating the Teacher -- our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ --, we have emulated our teacher -- the world. Sadly, we rationalize, or, more likely, ignore the passages that tell us to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

Like the fool that Jesus warned us about in Luke 13:13-21, instead of "[laying] up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal," we have been laboring to build bigger "barns", bank accounts, homes, church buildings and the like. Like that same fool, we have rested in the uncertainty of our investments, and all the while we have ignored the fact that this very night our souls may be required of us (may the Lord be merciful to us and bring our lives into conformity with His will before he requires our souls).

Case in point, many of us followed the world into the exploding and expanding real estate boom of 2002-2005. Some folks were lucky enough to ride the boom and cash in before the bubble began to burst last year. Others were not so "fortunate." In I Timothy 6, Paul warned Christians against the dangers of putting one's hope in "uncertain riches":

"9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs...17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy."

Suffice it to say, Paul was right. There is only One who is a solid foundation for the future, who is a sure investment that is guaranteed to bring joy and happiness -- that which is "truly life" -- (you’ve already guessed who that is); He is Christ Jesus our Lord - the only sure foundation and that Solid Rock of whom the old hymn writer speaks:

"On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand."

So, since you know Him to be the only sure foundation, place your faith and trust in Christ alone and begin to lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. Christ's command in the following verses are piercing, serious and are not a mere suggestion. They provide us with a fitting end to this devotional.

32 Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

“Father, give me not only the desire, but also the ability to obey it!”