Everyday we make investments. We take a position on one political view or another, hoping beyond hope that the campaign rhetoric will find its' way into some form of reality. We yell, scream, and defend the honor of one football, hockey, or baseball team over another, cherishing the dream of winning it all at the end of the season. We take our time and energy and use it to realize our dreams. Each investment has an outcome, often in ways that we never imagined.
I walk the streets of New York imagining the investments and bets that people continue to make with their lives. There is the kid in the Starbucks coffee shop living for basketball and the thrill of the next conquest. I listened in on the conversation of a young professional of the city, wondering if she understood the heritage of her family and was investing in continuing the traditions of past generations. I listened and watched as a homeless man wandered the streets in the early morning sunlight, screaming at demons past and present. I silently prayed that my compassion would find action as people of all types, sizes, and degrees of happiness crossed my path in midtown.
God reaches out to you and I with an incredible promise, almost too good to be true.
“My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary; the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.” (Proverbs 8.18)
We listened in numbed silence, applying the streetwise filters to His promise, knowing that there is never anything for nothing. We wonder what He gets out of all this. We assume that investing in our dreams is always better, or at least easier, than taking a stake with Him.
I find that God is the best investment that I can make. I do admit that this decision will, if make fully and unreservedly, dwarf anything else we will ever decide. The upside is incredible! The downside is a life lived more to the full. You cannot lose with God, but it is your decision.
