REALSample

Investing in Others

By Mark Harris 

Most of us have probably heard Warren Buffet’s quote, “The best investment you will ever make is in yourself.” It may seem selfish and counterintuitive to Christian advice, but did you know it’s actually extremely biblical to invest in yourself, so you are able to invest in others?

Jesus set a great example as He lived on earth. In Matthew 11:28–30 (MSG), He calls this the “unforced rhythms of grace”: “Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

If you want to be able to invest in others and make a difference in their lives, you must first invest in yourself. Jesus was always investing in others. He was constantly pouring out. In just one very busy day, Jesus went from preaching in the synagogue to casting out a demon, healing a sick friend, and at sundown, ministering to the entire city gathered at His door (Mark 1:21–34). But what always preceded or followed His times of pouring out was a time away. Time spent investing in Himself. Time praying, listening, and refueling. In Mark 1:35 (ESV), following His busy day, we see that “very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed.”

Jesus also invited His disciples into His unforced rhythm of grace. In Mark 6:31–32 (ESV), “And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”

To pour into others, we need to be equipped with something to give. And the way we have something to give is to rest spiritually, physically, and mentally. You can’t pour anything out of an empty container. Are you investing in yourself daily and spending time with the Lord? Are you regularly investing in your soul so that you can invest in other people?

Prayer

(Prayer of St. Francis) Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offense, let me bring pardon. Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth. Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, let me bring Your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy. O Master, let me not seek as much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that one receives, it is in self-forgetting that one finds, it is in pardoning that one is pardoned, it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.

Memory Verse

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." John 15:12–13