Investments Worth the Risk

I think the most important investment you can make is an investment in others. The return for this investment is one of the most rewarding, but also can be one of the most risky. The commonly accepted definition of an investment risk is "a deviation from the expected outcome.", whether positive or negative. With investment, there is always a risk, but when investing in people, I would argue the risk is even greater because what's at stake is your heart. People don't make investments unless what they are investing in is worth the risk. Others, are worth the risk.

This notion is so close to my heart because who I am today has been shaped by those who have invested in me. My faith has been deepened, my heart has been opened, and my life has been changed by others deciding that I was worth their time. To me, investments have looked like conversations over coffee, words of encouragement, listening ears, letters in the mail, prayers whispered, prayers shouted, car rides, calls/texts answered, when others have shown up, when others have stayed, and simply just time with those who I hold dear.

But even greater than that, I think investing in others is how others are led to the feet of Jesus.

Matthew 5: 14-16 (MSG) says "...Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

We are asked to be generous with our lives. When I think of the word generous in relation to my life, my first thought is to accomplish that means to spend time with others and to share life with others, but I think living generously with my life also means taking the time to encourage, to speak life, to pray boldly for, and to serve. To put others needs, wants, and desires before my own. To show up. "Jesus had most of His followers by the time He'd said hello. Being present is all the information most people need" (Bob Goff).

It's the desire of my heart for lifts those in my life to feel invested in. I want to be someone who encourages and others up. I want to be someone who is dependable and consistent in my love. I want to be someone who takes the time to claim the promises of God over others. When I go out to dinner, I want to be done with my food first because I'm too busy listening to talk. I want to pour out my love on others until they find themselves at the feet of the One who loves them most.

David Kinnaman, in his book Unchristian, says that "our task is to be effective agents of spiritual transformation in people's lives, whatever that may cost in time, comfort or image. " Whatever it costs, whatever the risk: Others, are worth it. The best investment you can make is an investment in people.

Jesus, You Have Won Me...

Giving love does not mean that you will always receive love and to be honest with you, I think that sucks. I think one of the greatest gifts that we have been given is to show love and to be shown love and if I were in control, the two would always occur simutaneously. But, thankfully, I'm not in control.

Because if I were, then choosing to love wouldn't be a choice. It would be forced and I strongly believe that love does not force itself. Jesus didn't force me to love Him. He could have. He could have threatened me with Hell until I finally decided to choose Him so that I could avoid Hell, but that's not love. That's fear.

And perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Jesus doesn't want me to follow Him or live obediently to Him because I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't. He wants me to do those things because I love Him. He wants to cast out the fear, so that we can experience perfect love. He is the perfect example of this notion that giving love does not mean that you will always receive love. The Bible tells us that "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13)". He died for us exemplfying the greatest love and yet still there are moments, days, months, even years,where we choose not to love Him back with our words or with our actions.

One of the sweetest things I love about Jesus is the fact that He doesn't force Himself. He lets me choose Him. He wants to be a choice. I love that He who is all powerful and mighty draws me to Him not by His strength, but His gentleness. I'm rereading a book right now that blew my mind the first time I read it and is blowing my mind the second time too. As I was reading there was a part that I must have reread a dozen times and haven't stopped thinking about. The author (Wayne Jacobsen) is talking about how God loves us to His arms, rather than scares us to them. He writes: "With incredible patience and love, he coaxes us our of our fears to embrace him. He waits for that moment when suddenly we are safer in him than in any other place we could be. You may be timid at first, but turn toward him and abandon yourself to trust him in the smallest way you can. He understands how afraid you are that you'll be disappointed once again. But he's still there, patiently extending his hand to You. He will try to get closer, until you cower away in fear. Then he will back off so as not to add to your pain, hoping his gentleness will one day win you over"

When I read that, I have to stop to catch my breath. I can't read that without being flooded with emotion. Not only does He love me enough to reach out His hand to me and remain there until I take it, but He also loves me enough to back off so that I'm not forced to take His hand. Seriously, Holy Moly. I have been completely won over by His love.

I think it's easy to think that loving others always looks and sounds a certain way, but I'm realizing more and more that I know nothing. Often times, my love is a selfish kind of love "I think this is what's best for you, so I'm going to love you that way" or " I think you need to hear this so because I love you, I'm going to tell you this." But Jesus is reminding me that sometimes loving one another doesn't always look and sound how we expect it to. Sometimes loving one another is backing off so I don't add to someone else's pain. Sometimes loving one another is holding out your hand, even though no one might ever take it. Look at the story of the prodigal son. If I were that father, there would have been consequences not because I didn't love my son, but because I loved him and wanted him to choose better next time. I think that's the expected reaction, but the father in the story runs to Him while He is still on road and comes home to throw the biggest party of the year. His reaction was a completely unexpected expression of love, but it is undeniably loving. When the way I love only looks and sounds like the way I expect love to look and sound, I think love has been put in a box and in doing so, I've moved from loving selflessly to loving selfishly. I've moved from giving love even if I haven't received it to loving when love is received, which limits the power of love.

And why would I ever want to limit love? God is love.