How to really invest…in a way Wall Street will never teach you!

Probing Proverbs 14:4 Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.

Human nature is a very interesting thing! What does a miser love? Money! What does a miser have a lot of? Money! What is money for? To provide needs and creature comforts. What does the miser refuse to use? Money! How many individuals have seemingly died as average to low income folks…some even appeared destitute, only to find huge sums of money in their house after they die?

The point of this Proverb is deeply profound. You can have a stable, and never allow it to get dirty…just do not use it for what it was intended for, housing animals. However, you then lose the use of those animals, which if used wisely could help supply the needs and wants of your family…BUT…it will mean your stable will not look or smell as good. We have countless examples of individuals that have had things…to just have them! They never experience the joy or gain that possession might bring, because they did not want to risk any problem with their precious possession.

There is a very important reality that we all need to glean from this. The most precious possession we have is our eternal soul and the momentary life we have on this earth. We have a choice to invest that life or just try to protect it and not allow any problems or difficulties enter into it.

Jesus put it this way:

Luke 9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

The famous beer commercial was true – “You only go around once in life” – You can try and keep your life for you and in the end, everything ends with you and you will spend eternity regretting it! Contrarily, you can give your life to your Creator and let Him guide you on how to invest it! Then eternity is only filled with anticipation of the returns of your investment. There is no third reality! Don’t protect your life and keep it to yourself! Open your life to God and others, and watch the bountiful harvest that will be brought forth!

The So What: Do you see your life as yours, or God’s? Have you considered why you were created, your purpose, what only you can accomplish that God planned you for? Are you just existing or investing? Does what you are investing in have eternal consequences, or just here and now? Like beauty, youth and strength, is your life losing it’s ability with each year, or are you being renewed from within as that which is temporal is declining?