LIVING THIS THING CALLED LIFE (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Put your investments in several places—many places even—because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world.

Ecclesiastes 11:2 (GNT)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In the 1990’s, an energy company called Enron had one of the hottest stocks around, increasing around 300 percent in an eight year period. The years 1999 and 2000 would bring even more stock growth with the price per share peaking out at more than $90 a share. Many investors placed a large part of their money in the company which seemed to be doing so well, so much so that it was rated the most innovative large company in a Fortune magazine survey on the Most Admired Companies.

But there was a problem. You see, the company wasn’t doing as well as it looked. Unethical accounting practices resulted in earnings looking better than they really were. Company performance was not as good as it was presented to the public and billions of dollars in debt from failed deals and projects was concealed.

In 2001, the company’s scandal was exposed and the stock price plunged to less than a dollar by the end of the year but not before company executives who were aware of the improprieties sold off their stocks to gain huge profits. Unfortunately, investors lost billions in the process, many seeing their life savings disappear.

It was a financial disaster for so many. Perhaps they should have read the 2nd verse of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 2 which offers us wisdom, not just in how to handle our finances but to handle our lives as well. Look at the verse again:

Put your investments in several places—many places even—because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world.

The call here is to diversify, to invest in multiple places so that if some sudden disaster happened, you wouldn’t lose it all. After all, you never know what can happen with the financial market and it’s just good sound financial practice to have your money spread across more than one place.

But is this message from the word of the Lord just all about finances? Is there another message for us here in how to live this thing called life?

I think so.

For let’s look at this verse as representing what we do as people. A person who places all their emphasis in one place is typically self-centered. It’s all about me. It’s about my needs, my wants, my desires, my gain. In fact, people who are so self-reliant fail to see the need for anyone to help them in life. After all, they can take care of everything on their own.

Obviously, this isn’t the way the Lord expects us to live. For it is the Lord’s will for us to be invested in things outside of ourselves, just as Jesus was and as Christians, we are to be like Him in every way.

If someone needed healed, Jesus would invest in making them well.

If someone was dealing with demons within, Jesus invested Himself in driving out those evil spirits.

If someone needed taught, Jesus never failed to invest time to instruct them.

If someone needed rebuked, Jesus invested his time to correct.

If someone needed forgiven, Jesus would invest His pardon on them.

If someone needed saved (and we all do), Jesus invested His life to ensure we might live eternally with Him vice dying.

Jesus invested Himself in many, many ways and in the end, He gained the ultimate return on His investment, a place of authority sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.

And guess what? If we follow His lead and invest ourselves in those who are in need while we live this thing called life, those that the Lord will always lead and guide us to , then we too will one day receive the greatest dividend ever for the time and talent and treasure we put in. For we will be with God the Father and His Son Jesus eternally in a place where there will never be bad luck nor hardship, no darkness or sin, no affliction or suffering.

There will be nothing but light and love forever.

Friends, no investment on earth can give you that. You can only find it by investing as Jesus did.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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