Fulfilling Your Purpose As An Investor
Our Mission
To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.
Philippians 3.10 claims, my aim is to know Him, to experience the power of His resurrection, to share in His sufferings, and to be like Him in His death. What is the goal of your religion? To get to heaven? This was not the goal of arguably the greatest Christian who was not also God. Perhaps the secret to his Christianity was the fact that he made his understanding, practice and experience of God now, not future.
Perhaps the reason so few Christians have so little passion for God now is because their goal for experiencing Him is not now but later, after we die. What if that is too late? Interestingly, God, when He lived among us as one of us, spent nearly all of His time teaching us how to live now. Jesus taught we are to obey God today, He modeled pursuing God daily, He made the work of God in this world the priority of His people. It explains why Jesus spent so little time and gave almost no description of heaven or what awaits those who finally pass from this life into the next.
The daily goal as the Apostle Paul outlined in our verse begins with knowing God. Daily our prayers should be lifted to God while we daily hear from God through the Scriptures. It is the Bible that reveals the will of God and the ways of God so that we can engage the work of God today. Second, Paul wanted to experience today the power of baptism. Not the water part but the Spirit part. In baptism we proclaim the burial of our past life and the resurrection of our new life in Christ. It is this new life that is to be lived powerfully with God and before men. What does a powerful life look like? It looks like the life of Jesus focused on His objectives with His character.
This leads to part three which is the result of living like Jesus: suffering. Imagine being God but having to tolerate the disrespect, the dishonor, and the disregard of people who are disinterested in the fact that God is with us. Jesus suffered in holding back all that He is, was and deserves in order to serve, love and sacrifice for those who were supposed to worship, love and obey Him. Jesus suffered the humiliation of being God but living as a Man, a humble, life-giving, servant. To share in His sufferings is to not claim our rights, titles, or possessions as anything but gifts to be given for the welfare of others.
Finally, to become like Jesus in His death. A life laid down for others so they can live. Who is gaining, who is living, who is succeeding because we are giving and we are sacrificing. That is what it means to be like Him in His death. So what is the goal of your religion? To get to heaven where you hope to experience its value, or to live it now, like Jesus did, where you experience His promise that only those who lose their lives truly find them?
His Opportunities
- CEO’s, are you looking for a private group of fellow business owners for encouragement, support, and advice? CBMC offers such a group. Contact Mike at mwinter@cbmc.com for more information.
- CBMC needs your help to continue its ministry to men in the marketplace. Please DONATE
- Tuesday, October 17th at the City Rescue Mission from noon until 1pm is your next CBMC Rescue Luncheon. This is your opportunity to serve lunch to the men and women who depend upon the Mission for their meal. Commit Here
MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
October 16, 2017
Fulfilling Your Purpose As An Investor
by Austin Pryor
Are you a “good” or “bad” investor? This cannot be answered without understanding an investor’s purpose. If you know the purpose of an investor is to manage money in such a way as to make it grow, but your investment accounts fail to see growth year after year, then it becomes apparent that no matter how good a person you may be, you are a “bad” investor.
In Making Sense of God, pastor Tim Keller writes, “All judgments that something or someone is good or bad are based on an awareness of purpose.… How then can we tell if a human being is good or bad? Only if we know our purpose, what human life is for.” For the secular person living without a belief God or a higher purpose, human life is not for anything. It is ultimately meaningless – we are here only by chance due to random physical forces.
For the follower of Jesus Christ, however, we are here for a reason. Pastor Rick Warren begins his popular book, The Purpose Driven Life, this way:
“It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”
In the book, Warren contends – with abundant support from the Bible – that God created us with five purposes in mind: to love Him; to be a part of His family; to become like Him; to serve Him, and to tell others about Him. May I suggest that each of these purposes should encompass the way in which we manage and share whatever wealth He has entrusted to us?
* We show our love for God when we have a heart of generosity. “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
* We show we understand what it means to be a part of God’s family when we look after others in Christ’s family. “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:15-17).
* We show we are more like Him when we give sacrificially because He is the perfect Giver. “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).
* We show we intent to serve Him when we take our responsibilities as stewards seriously. We know from the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) that God has made us managers of His resources, and know from that passage that “it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).
* We show we are diligent about telling others about Him when we share our faith and give generously to reach out to those who do not know Him. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…’” (Matthew 28:18-20).
In light of these passages, how would you say you are doing as an investor? Are you a “good” or “bad” steward?
Austin Pryor has 36 years of experience advising investors, and is the founder of the Sound Mind Investing newsletter and website. He’s the author of The Sound Mind Investing Handbook, which enjoys the endorsements of respected Christian teachers with more than 100,000 copies sold. Austin lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife, Susie.
Click here for the PDF:
