Enriching Your Life to the Extraordinary: Inspire to Invest (Part 5 of 5)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

“Transformation in the world happens when people are healed and start investing in other people.” -Michael W. Smith

“Every day is a bank account
And time is our currency
So no one’s rich, nobody’s poor
We get twenty-four hours each
So how are you gonna spend”  Chris Rice

What’s the first thing you think of when I say the word invest? Most likely thoughts of bonds, IRAs, 401ks, and the stock market flood into your thoughts. What if I said that investing money isn’t the most important thing you could invest in? In fact, in the whole scheme of things, it’s quite low on the list of investments that we should seek after. In regards to time, we all have the exact same amount to invest in: Twenty-four hours each day, every day. As long as you have a pulse, you share the same amount of this investment as everyone else here on earth. We don’t often see it in these terms, but one of our greatest gifts we possess is the gift of time. God gives us life to be lived and it’s our choice to choose how we want to spend His gift of time to us. What’s more, we should come to realize that when we invest our time with people and for people, everything has more meaning and significance. We can’t afford to waste this investment as Ralph Waldo Emerson stated: “Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” So you ask how to I make the most of my time and spend it wisely? Read on….

For some of you, the past 6 months have seemed like the longest 6 months of your life because your energy, passion, and purpose for life have disappeared. For others, the past 6 months have flown by because you savored every moment living with a fire and zeal for life. What makes the difference? Why do some days bring meaning, hope, passion, and purpose; while others leave us in a state of comatose? Why does some days fly by, while others drag on and on? To answer these questions, there are a few barriers we must look that hinder how our time is spent.  

Prioritizing is a concept used often in our society, but solemnly put in practice. Instead we procrastinate, ignore, or just plain stop trying to do the things that are most important in life. We place value on insignificant things on a daily basis such as watching television, playing video games, shooting 18 holes, texting, and surfing the internet. Is there any wrong if any of these things? No, but it’s wrong when we place these things on pedestals above things that we were meant to do and pursue in life. We need to continually ask ourselves this: Do these things bring purpose, significance, and value to my life? When it’s all said and done will I truly not regret wasting time on this trivial pursuits? It’s not the length of a life that matters, it’s the width as Diane Ackerman reiterates, “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it was well.”  If you live to be 110 years old, but spend it on meaningless pursuits, what good is it?

Busyness is one of the greatest enemies of our society today. Everyone and everything is calling for our attention. They tell us that we’ve got buy this,  join this club, listen to this, try this…it leaves us breathless, tired, and defeated until we’ve got nothing left to give. Any interruptions or distractions to your to-do list and you’re day is ruined. One thing about time that holds true is this: time once spend can never be reclaimed. Once a minute, hour, or moment is over, it’s gone forever. In writing to the church of Corinth, Paul wrote this in regards to spending time: “Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.” (2 Corinthians 6:1, MSG) Time wasted is life wasted.  So if you’re going to leave a legacy on earth and truly live on purpose we must pass the effectiveness test of time. Being busy doesn’t equal being effective! Sometimes doing less is more!

The final major reason we struggle with our use of time is the paradox of productivity. Our society places a large emphasis on having something to show for our time. Whether it be a report, project, system, product created–we have to produce something in order for our time spent to mean something. It’s crept into our culture so much that there are many people who can’t even enjoy vacation or free time because they don’t have anything to show for it. We’re created for so much more than just work. Our value lies in so much more than what we do. God doesn’t equate time with productivity. Instead He looks the deeper issue of how you spent that time.  So with all these barriers in our way, how do we get out of this rut of wasting time and going through the motions of life?

One of the biggest things you’ve taught in Economics 101 is this: the greater the risk, the greater the reward. So it is with relationships too. The more of the time, money, energy, passion, and commitment we put in people, the greater the reward. Sure there’s a big risk: rejection, being let down, broken promises, betrayal, and so on. Over a period of given time, though, we discover our greatest reward is found in people no matter the risk involved.  You need to embrace this concept when it comes to relationships: The people you make time for will find time for you. This is best illustrated in the parable that Jesus gave in the gospel of Luke:

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’” ‘Eight hundred gallonsof olive oil,’ he replied.”The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ” ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:1-9)

As first glance, you would say there’s nothing of worth from about this parable. A bad manager gets fired, he starts forgiving the debt of his master’s debtors so that down the line someone will like him enough to help him out. Then we read that the master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly and Jesus says “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” (Luke 16:8) This is very encouraging, right? Then the key verse comes: “ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:9) This passage is much more about investing in people than it is money. Sure, money plays a role, but a minor role. Here’s what we can learn from this passage:

The point of this parable isn’t that you should misdirect other people’s money; instead the message is that you need to carefully invest your life. Everything you gain and accumulate in life needs to be invested in people. If you don’t invest in others, your life will have no lasting, eternal value. None. The manager’s actions are dishonorable no doubt, but he did stumble upon a very important principle: the greatest invest in life is people and time spend with people. You cannot live the life you were meant to live without people–it simply can’t happen.

We all have limitations and short-comings. Your potential is limited to you who are. When you learn to serve others and place significance on making a difference in people’s lives, your potential is unlimited. Without people, where would your encouragement come from? Where does your comfort come from? When a crisis comes along, who do you have to lift your sprits? With people firmly invested in your life, when you succeed others count it their success. Failure no longer defines you. Instead people will refuse to let you quit and give up; pushing you until your reach your goal. They’ll give you a shoulder to cry on, a hug to let you know it’s going to be alright, or a kind word to keep you moving forward.  Or when the waves of change come, they’ll give you a helping hand(illustrated by this humorous picture of these two starfish of the left). Life was never meant to be walked alone and our limitations remind us of this important reality.

We must stop viewing people as just another commodity; just something to be used for your benefit, to achieve success, and to accomplish our goals. Instead we must change our mindset of viewing people as a gift that needs to be stewarded. God has placed the people in our lives for a reason and we cannot waste our time here on earth neglecting our most valuable gift given to us. Nothing in our lives is truly ours, not even ourselves. The act of stewardship needs to carry over in not just our money, possession, and talents; but also in our relationships with people. People will invest in you if you invest in them. Everyone benefits, everyone wins when love is made into a daily investment.

One more thing to keep in mind from this parable is you shouldn’t have to resolve to buy people’s love and affection. When Jesus says to “use worldly wealthy to gain friends for yourselves”, He doesn’t mean to persuade and manipulate people to like you by throwing money at them.  He’s instead commanding us to use everything at our disposal in order to create, form, and maintain relationships. Don’t waste your resources on yourself; instead give it away. Live your life giving it away!  

The greatest test of our lives isn’t how much money we make, what we own, the successes we enjoy, or how popular we are. Instead it’s measured by how we spend our greatest resource–time. We have a choice to make: we can either choose to throw away the time given to you, or treasure it. The choice is yours and yours alone to make. The only thing that we take with us when we leave this earth is our character and what we did for other people with the time God granted us. Because what we do for people, we do for Christ: “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:40) Your time should be an investment in the action of love. Whether it be for God, your family, neighbors, friends, or even your enemies–every tick of the clock should be an investment towards love.

When you’re entering the last chapter of your life and you look back— do you think you’ll treasure the time you spent watching your favorite sitcom or a goal you reached at work that brought you success in your career? I highly doubt it. Instead you’ll recall all the lives you’ve touched and the people who have touched yours. If you want to have no regrets about how you spend your time, remember the key to investment: a life spent on others is a life well spent. Yes, every moment of every day should be treasured, but when you live life for God and for others it gives even the most mundane, routine tasks more meaning. If you only live to please yourself, achieve your own goals, and gain worldly success; nothing will outlive you. Your life will be wasted. The popular Christian band, MercyMe, wrote this concerning how we spend our time in the song, Goodbye Ordinary:” We were never meant to compromise, settle for mediocrity, this life was never made to be a waste of time, well all that is within me, says no more just existing… live like there’s no tomorrow, love extravagantly, lead a life to be followed, goodbye ordinary” Every moment of every day is a chance to invest in love so that when your life is through Jesus will exclaim: “‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Matthew 25:23) Invest in others and you will have lived a rich life! The test is still in session, are you passing?

**Next week we’ll begin a short new series on your future called: Entering Your Future with Eagerness. The first part will address difficult issues such as waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled, releasing your fears about your future, and trusting that God’s will be accomplished in your life despite difficult circumstances you’re facing. Have a wonderful day and God Bless.**

Sources:  

Kerry and Chris Shook, One Month to Live. Waterbrook Press: Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2008.

Erwin Raphael McManus, Wide Awake. Thomas Nelson: Nashville, Tennessee, 2008.