Published by admin on 08 Oct 2000 at 10:18 pm
INVESTING WISELY
Everywhere I go I hear Christians saying they want to be blessed. And that’s fine. God most certainly wants to bless His children. But there is something very many people overlook when they read Deut 28:1-14, and that is the “If thou shalt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day……”
I just got done preaching a sermon at a church today, where I dropped in for a surprise visit. They didn’t even know I was coming. Neither did I. The Lord spoke to me early this morning when I was in the shower, about “investing wisely”.
There is so much “cheap Christianity” going on these days. Everyone says, Bless me, bless me, bless me, give me the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14, but they don’t want to hearken and observe to do His commandments. What are His commandments? Jesus summed them up in two things; to love the Lord your God with all your mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the whole of the laws and the prophets. That means putting God’s desires above your desires. That means saying not, “What are you going to do for me today?” but rather, “What can I do for You today, Lord?” That means praying for someone else when you’d rather be sleeping. That means studying God’s word when you’d rather be watch a sports program on TV. That means telling people about Jesus, even though it might make enemies for you. Some people are actually at risk for their lives because of their testimony for Christ Jesus, you know. THEN, the blessings and the promises belong to you.
You see, God invested His most precious thing in us, and that is the life of Jesus, and His blood. The cost of discipleship is not considered by many people who call themselves Christians. In Luke 14:26-33, Jesus spoke of the high cost of being His disciple. It isn’t cheap, but yet, too many people who call themselves Christians go on living just like they did before they became Christians. It should not be so. The precious blood of Jesus was invested in us. Just as we put our money in one bank, and therefore, not in the others, we are telling the other banks we choose not to invest in them. When we live our lives according to our fleshly desires, we are telling Him, even though He has already invested His Son in us, we are not interested in investing in Him. In other words, we tell God we don’t think He is worth us investing our lives in and trusting in Him. So therefore, we are by default, investing in the kingdom of the devil. Most everyone has things they treasure, and things they trash. Those things people want to keep as treasures, they put in storage cabinets, or on shelves, to display them and keep them safe. But the things they don’t want? They go in the garbage as junk not worth keeping. The same is said of our walk with God, and our investment of our life in Him.
If the most precious thing in your life is your relationship with God, then it will be something you give first priority to. It comes even before your family, before your job, before your TV shows, why, it’s the thing you think about all the time. You meditate on His word when you wake up. You meditate on His word when you lie down to sleep.
On the other hand, if God isn’t very important to you except when you are in trouble, then you won’t be investing much time in seeking Him at all. People who are always in trouble, always sick, always broke, and say they are praying a lot are kidding themselves. Because if they were really putting the time into the relationship with God that they want people to think they are, they would already be out of trouble. How do I know that? Because God is good for His word, and He hastens to bring His word to pass in our lives. He wants you blessed more than you want to be blessed.
As I said earlier, everyone wants to be blessed. I don’t know anyone who wants to be cursed. But if we don’t invest our lives in Christ Jesus, then we are already cursed, even though God wants us blessed. God made His choice and tells us what will happen as the result of either obeying Him, or not obeying Him. Then He takes His hands off and lets us make our choice. If we will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord God to obey Him, then we cannot help but be blessed. His blessings will overtake us and come upon us. It’s the natural by-product of diligently seeking God and obeying His word.
How much are you willing to invest in God today? He has already invested His all into you, by the blood of His Son, Christ Jesus. How heavily are you willing to invest? Are you willing to draw really, really close to Him? If so, He will draw close to you. Luke 14:16-24 has Jesus teaching about the various excuses we make when God calls out to us. Are you offering excuses today why you will not come to Jesus and be saved? Or are you saved, and making excuses to God why you will not go further with Him, because you are still trying to hold onto the lusts of the flesh?
Jesus said if you will be His disciple, you must take up your cross and follow Him. He didn’t say you must take up your pillow and He will follow you. The way of the Christian is not always soft and easy. The cross wasn’t easy for Jesus. But He endured it for us. We need a revelation from God just how much agony Jesus suffered for our salvation. We need to esteem His sacrifice most highly. There is a costly investment that God is asking you to make today, but one that pays huge dividends for all eternity. Yes, it costs now, but later, you’ll be glad you paid the price. Invest more time in the Lord this year. “JESUS SAVES. BANKERS INVEST.”
Even bankers know they must invest for their future security. Invest in your future security today. Invest wisely in Jesus and you will be saved!