Investment Strategy

Have you seen any of these commercials recently about buying gold? They warn of the falling dollar, rising debt and volatile stock market while talking about the solid value of gold.

Yesterday Becky and I were eating supper and the TV was on when an ad for “goldline.com” came on. It depicts a professional looking couple in their mid 30’s, preparing some dinner maybe, as if they just got in from “the office.”

They are discussing money and the man says something like “Maybe it’s time we rethink our investment strategy.”

I started pondering this statement. “Maybe it’s time we rethink our investment strategy.”

The ad was obviously designed to convince people with stocks or savings of some kind to consider investing in gold but I began to think about my own investment strategy. I have no stocks to worry about or other monies that I need to be careful with but I have been blessed with very valuable commodities. We all have.

One very valuable commodity that we all are given is time. Time is so precious. We are only given a certain amount and we only have one chance to invest it.

It is not hard to see, in our day, that much time, if not most of our time, has been invested in earning money. So we can have things…more things…bigger homes…newer cars…security for the future. Is this really a wise investment of our time?

What have we sacrificed for more money? Many times we trade our one and only chance to raise our children for more money. Is that a wise investment of our time? Has this strategy been good for our families?

We sacrifice time with our spouse in this endless pursuit of money. What kind of returns have we received on this investment? Dividends of broken homes and shattered lives, but we have more money! Guess the divorce lawyers are getting that return.

 We foolishly put very little investment into the most precious of earthly relationships and then wonder what happened. Why didn’t it work? Where did we go wrong?

Marriage and children are precious gifts. We would be wise to rethink our investment strategies in these areas.

And if we are courageous enough to rethink our strategies to invest the precious commodity of time, what about our faith? How much of our time are we investing in such a precious gift as our faith?

There seems to be less and less time left in our ever busy schedules to invest in our faith these days and so many appear to be trapped in the relentless cycle of busyness. So consumed by this world.

The Bible says that our faith is more precious than gold and the outcome of our faith is the salvation of our souls. So how can we invest time in our faith?

If we really would rethink our strategies and invest less of our time in the pursuit of money, we are, at the same time, cultivating and exercising the precious gift of faith so its genuineness may be tested.

If we consider what scripture says is valuable instead of all the other influences and desires that we follow, the constant pursuit of money is just not a priority.

But what about our stuff? What about our standard of living that we have worked so hard to achieve? What about our retirement goals? Education and travel plans?

The Bible says the world and its desires are passing away but the one who does the will of God will abide forever. I believe that is why Jesus seemed to care so little about obtaining money. Why he said that God considered the successful farmer who built bigger barns to store his crops a fool. Why Jesus said not to worry about what we would eat or wear….that a man’s life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions.

Maybe that is why Jesus said even to sell your possessions and give to the poor and provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old. Treasures in heaven.

Time to rethink our investment strategies?

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The Sweetness of Unity

As a pastor of a relatively young fellowship of believers, one question that I get constantly is "How's the church going?" I appreciate the interest that people have in Community Christian Fellowship but my answer is always so inadequate. I usually answer that question with something really eloquent like "pretty good." Wow. Really? "Pretty good?"

It is really hard to articulate to someone how "the church is going" but today was a good "snapshot" of how CCF is going. Today was another reminder to me that God is indeed doing a work in our church and I have to say it is "pretty good." Actually it is better than that. It is sweet.

What happened today? Record attendance? Huge offering? New building? No, no and no. What happened today was another demonstration of love by serving one another with pure joy.

Because of the snow, we were unable to meet at our normal location or our normal time but that didn't faze the people of CCF.

"Where?" "What time?" "We will be there!"

And I am not talking people who show up, sit in a chair or pew for an hour and then go home. I am talking about people who arrive an hour or more before we start to work and work hard, and then stay after the service to serve more.

The trailer has to be hauled to the location, unloaded. Then everybody works as one to set up sound, a children's department and everything else we need in a new location that nobody is used to. Then when the worship service is over (and our worship is never only an hour!) everything has to be broken down and loaded back in the trailer and hauled away.

It requires flexibility, patience and a willingness to simply serve and it requires teamwork. I saw all of that today and more. I saw a family that God has made, not only working together, but serving Him with joy and true unity. It is so sweet.

Jesus said "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The Apostle Paul urged the believers in Ephesians to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

I love to preach but the most powerful message that is proclaimed from Community Christian Fellowship is the love for one another and unity in the Spirit demonstrated every week and magnified in challenging circumstances like today by our family in Christ at CCF! Thank you Lord!

The next time someone asks me "How's the church going?" maybe instead of "pretty good" I will say, "It is sweet!"