Fighting to Invest

Parable of the Talents - Matthew 25:14-30

Last Sunday night I was sitting at home and had just pressed play on my DVD when the phone rang. It was 10:00 at night…It was my good friend Nath. He called to tell me that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. Nath’s only 20! I was devastated for him!!

Last night I went shopping and I went to get my nails done. There was a table set up and two guys that looked like salesmen standing near Gloria Jeans and all I could think was ‘Don’t make eye contact!!’ But I did by accident and one of them stopped me. As I walked towards him I thought “Ok, be polite, let him finish and then make up an excuse about why you can’t afford whatever gimmick he’s about to try and sell you!” I started to try and think of an excuse and then I looked at the logo on his shirt…it was the Cancer Foundation. Now, normally, I might have still tried to think of an excuse…as selfish as that sounds…but this time I had a fresh open wound and I couldn’t think of one…my friend Nath had just had surgery on Monday to remove cancer and that’s just the START of his ordeal. He’ll have to have some kind of treatment…and as I stood there listening to this guy I just kept thinking in my head “I would pay ANYTHING…ANYTHING…for Nath not to have to go through this!! Name your price…I would pay it!!”

One of the things this guys said to me was “You know, everyone wants to see Cancer cured…everyone wants it to go away…everyone is happy to see the research done…but no one will invest in it!” I couldn’t help but feel guilty that 5 mins earlier I was trying to come up with an excuse to not give money…and here I was going to get my nails done…so he wasn’t just asking for a one-off donation…he was asking for a long term sponsor…I was asked to sign up to pay $30 a month to invest into cancer research. On the form it asked me if I was doing this in honour of someone and I said that it was in honour of Nath! I figured this was something worth investing in!!

All this got me thinking today…what do I invest in? Yesterday I pledged $30 a month to invest financially into the cancer foundation…but do I invest in the cancer patient enough? Today I spent $200 of my own money getting the canteen stuff for youth group…so I invested financially into the youth group…but do I invest into the Youth Grouper enough? I tithe my 10%...so I invest into God’s house…but do I invest in God enough? And that’s the question I want to ask you...What are you investing in? Are you only investing in the things that interest you and spreading yourself too thin in the things that really matter? As I walked away from the guy from the Cancer Foundation last night I couldn’t help but wonder how many people have the means to invest into such a worthwhile cause, but cling so tight to their money that they never invest it into anything that might help someone else.

God sent His only Son to this earth to invest in each one of us…His ONLY Son…that’s quite a big investment don’t you think? But how much time do we invest in Christ? Or do we spend lots of time investing in Christ, but not enough time investing in His people…the ones He wants us to reach? How much time do we spend investing into our church programs? The ones that are falling apart because of lack of investment…How much money do we invest into the church? Do we tithe regularly to see our church flourish and make sure we have the things that we need to have to keep running?

The way that I see it…if I didn’t sign up to support the cancer research yesterday someone else would have…but that’s $30 a month that they wouldn’t have if I hadn’t signed up. But, it’s not all about the money…it’s about my attitude and what I’m willing to invest in. Do I tell Nath that I feel sorry for him and do the whole “I wish there was something I could do” and then not take that seriously and invest into the research that could make him better? Do I expect the rewards God has to offer and yet not take the time to invest in Him? Do I expect to come to church or youth group and have the best of everything and yet not tithe and invest financially into it? What do I see as important enough to invest in? People, things, churches, foundations…where are my priorities? Where are yours? What are you investing into?

Are you like the servant in the parable of the talents who buried his talent and didn’t do anything with it? Or are you like the servant who had 5 or 2 talents and invested it wisely and saw it increase? Do you want to see growth and rewards? Do I want to see Nath better? Yes…so I invest into that! Do you want to reap rewards from God? Yes? Invest into Him then!! Fight to invest into all that God has planned for you!!