For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Mark 8:36 ESV

Do you remember as a young person, having the idea of compound interest explained to you? It usually went something like this: “If you just put away three dollars a day for the next 40 years, you will have saved $43,800; however if you figure in the interest you will earn over those same 40 years at 5% per year you will find that you have gazillions of dollars saved for retirement!” While that seemed mind-boggling to me, I still never put it into practice until much later in life.

Jesus often talked about risk and reward. He called for his disciples to risk investing everything they owned and everything they hoped for, including their families and futures for His kingdom. It’s not that Jesus was a greedy pitchman, or a con-artist parting folks from their money. Jesus in fact said things like, “Sell all you have and give to the poor…” Mark 10:21 and “…preach the gospel to the poor…” Luke 4:18. Jesus wasn’t interested in getting their financial investments, but rather their relational investments.

How different we all would be if we lavishly invested ourselves in others as much as we do in our retirement savings? Investment means putting our principle at risk. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. Can we stop and ask ourselves the question tonight,

“Who am I willing to give my life for?” Then no matter the risk, begin to daily invest your life in them and trust in God that it will be worth more than you could imagine. But before you invest, remember that risking it all on an investment is exactly what Jesus did for us all!