Investments in Everyday Life
Today I will be sharing the Word of God on the topic of the best return. Famous economist and one of the world’s richest men alive, Warren Buffett, once said, “The most important investment you can make is in yourself.” Now you don’t need to be an academic to understand and agree with that statement.
That’s why if you look at today’s day and age, many people spend a lot on intangible commodities for themselves, like things that can make them happy. Workshops that can help the individual boost some of their personal soft skills to even get away on vacation far from their homes. People will be willing to spend so much money, effort and time just for the sake of such today. But through the Bible, I am going to show us and introduce something that is also worth investing in.
Investing in Eternity
So the word investment is defined as the act of devoting time, effort or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result. When people invest in themselves, they often do so with some kind of workflow result in mind, ranging from something as simple as feeling happy for even a split minute to a lifelong skill. In the same way, you will be able to understand that to the words of the Bible, the investment of the soul will, as a matter of fact, lead to a beneficial eternal return.
Now to help us understand that we have to go back to the perspective of the creator, the perspective of God in 2nd Corinthians 4:16-18. It reads, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
So according to this scriptural passage, we are called to be those who can fix our eyes on what is eternal, the unseen and not what is temporary or what is seen. So what does that mean? Comparing our bodies, the flesh, which rots and fades away over time versus the spirit, which is eternal. Which one should we be more fixated on? The spirit.
But let’s just think for a second. When it comes to the amount of time and effort we invest in our day to day life, in our weekly schedule, how much time do we spend investing in our outward versus how much time we spend investing in our inward that is eternal?
People today, they would spend 1000s and 1000s of dollars on things that can only bring temporary satisfaction, things that only cater to the outward, for example, food.
Did you know that the world’s most expensive spaghetti cost $2,000. And that spaghetti can be found in New York City. Some of us don’t even earn that much in a month, but a single one person spaghetti meal can cost $2,000.
You might think who was paying for such things. Who would spend so much money, as much as $2,000 just for a single meal?
You would be surprised. Many people actually line up trying to have a shot at eating that bowl of spaghetti. However, as believers, we need to understand that more than the temporary, what is eternal, is the Spirit that God created within us.
Returns from Taking Care of our Spirit
In Zechariah 12:1, it says, “The word of the Lord concerning Israel, the Lord who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person.” So in this passage, what does it say God is? He is the creator, He’s the one who forms the spirit within every single one of us. And because he’s the one who created the spirit within us, the spirit that is eternal. Don’t you think that in his point of view that’s very important?
Yes. Think about it. Put yourself into the shoes of the creator. Now you spend so much time, effort and thought into creating a very grand artwork. Would you just create the artwork just for the sake of within the next second, after you’re done, throwing it on the ground and bashing it up? No, right? Once you create that fine masterpiece knowing the effort and the thought that was put into it, you make sure that you treasure it. You make sure that you take care of it well.
It’s the same when it comes to God and the Spirit that He created within every single one of us. Furthermore, in Hebrews 12:9, it says, “Moreover we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live.” So more than just the creator and creation relationship that exists between God and the spirits within us, what also is another viewpoint that we need to be able to understand? The relationship of the Father and the child.
That God, he is the father figure. And the spirit within us, ourselves as people, what are we fulfilling the role as? Being the child, the children. So now from a parent’s perspective, from a father’s perspective, don’t you think the parent only wants the child to do well? Yes, a parent always has good intent for their child to do well. Likewise, God, the Father to our spirits, only wants our spirits to do well.
That’s why all throughout the Bible what do you see? You see constant instruction, encouragement, and reminder to take care of ourselves, to take care of not just our outward, but the inward self within us, the spirit within us. Like our flesh, the Spirit also needs to be maintained and fed like how our bodies cannot survive if it doesn’t get its daily essential nutrients. Our spirit needs to be fed also. And God knowing that, he gave us the word in the Bible to serve as fuel for the Spirit.
In John 6:49-50, it reads, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.” So in the old testament, we see that God, he rained down manna to His people so that what they could be fit physically. As they were roaming around the desert, they were hungry. God responded and fed them manna, physical manna from heaven. However, we know that at the time of the New Testament, that’s not it.
More than the physical, what did God want to feed? The spirit. And that’s why at the time the first coming through his son Jesus Christ and the words he spoke, was being able to give spiritual bread that came from heaven, the words and instructions of God. That’s why in John 6:63 it reads, “The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I’ve spoken to you, they are spirit and life.”
So very clearly within the words that Jesus spoke the words within the Bible that we know of, what is contained within it, life, but life for what? Our spirit. Jesus Himself even said our flesh means nothing. It counts for nothing. Isn’t it really true though?
Think about it. Just think about the average lifespan of the human body, does it only range between 70 to 80 years. And afterwards what happens? We become frail and we deteriorate physically speaking. Yeah, that’s why all throughout the Bible God gives us clear instructions to fix our eyes on the spirit, focus on the inward, invest in the inside, the inward.
The Best Return: Life
That’s why in John 1:1 it says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” That the Word in front of us aren’t just ordinary words that you read in your novels in literature classes, but they’re what? They’re words that are of God. They’re words that come from the life source. By us receiving those words, by us taking in those words, what are we receiving for our spirit? Life.
That’s why, in John 1:4 it says, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all of mankind.” Throughout the Bible, what do you see God do? Attempting to give people instructions because these instructions can give life to their spirits. Throughout the Bible what do you also see? God is investing much for us so that we can be fed in our spirits. As you flip through the pages of the Bible, to be honest, you should be imagining the many blood, sweat, and tears of God dripping off those pages. He spent so much effort. He invested so much into what, just giving us food that can feed our spirits.
In Isaiah 55:1 it says, “Come, all you who are thirsty come to the waters, and you, who have no money. Come by and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without costs”. With this what does God desire His people to do? To come to it, to eat, to receive the food that He has prepared for us. However, something to think about on our end: do we see the same value that God sees when it comes to investing in our soul, or are we, those who are still struggling to decide between what is eternal and what is temporary?
Let’s put this into perspective, if you had a decision to choose between a phone that will easily break versus a phone that will last forever, which one would you choose? It’s a no brainer question. To be honest, most of us would choose the phone that will last forever. The phone that will at least last longer because it just makes logical sense. But what about when it comes to our life of faith? When it comes to us as people, as a believer?
Deciding on the Best Investment
We’re stuck at a crossroad between choosing God, and choosing what can only satisfy the temporary flesh. Did you think it’s very interesting that we often are more swayed towards choosing our flesh choosing the road of satisfying, what is only temporary?
That’s why, what is God trying to constantly plead and convince us to help us understand the value of investing in our spirit. Because if we’re able to understand that value, what we will be able to do? We will be able to eat. We will be those who can easily choose what is right, choose what is of more importance, and that is our soul. Let’s be those who are smart believers. Let’s invest in eternity because that is the smartest choice. Think about what God would desire for us to choose. Would he desire for us to choose a life invested in the temporary flesh or life invested in the eternal spirit?
So yes, in the words of Warren Buffett, let’s be those who invest in ourselves. But as a believer we need to understand that, out of the many things we can invest in ourself, investing in our soul is the one that can lead to the best return. So let’s align our heart with God’s understanding, let’s align our heart, with the perspective of the Creator, so that whenever next time we’re stuck at a crossroad.
Choosing between what is eternal and the temporary flesh, we will easily choose the eternal. You will easily choose what God will want us to choose. And don’t you think if God were to look at it, he’ll be very well pleased with the individual? So let’s be those who can put a smile to God’s face by being those who can choose what is right.