As you face a new day and week, there are many things in which you can invest. For many of us there are opportunities everywhere. Business opportunities. Financial opportunities. Educational opportunities. Vocational opportunities. Service opportunities. With so many good things, none of us want to miss the best opportunity we have each week – investing in people.
As your week moves along, people around you will experience the highs and lows of everyday living. Some will experience joy, some suffering, some sickness, some boredom, others sadness, along with a myriad of other expressions of living. As they do, each one of us benefit because all the experiences of life provide us opportunities to invest in those individuals around us with whom we travel the roads of life.
Paul Describes His Practice of Investing in People
The Apostle Paul described his practice of investing in those around him as well. He wrote:
7 But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. 8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:4-12)
Look at the words Paul uses to describe the way he lived alongside the good people of Thessalonica. He was gentle, cherished, was affectionate, imparted his own life, exhorted, comforted, and charged. He refers to his care with the passion of a mother and a father.
Live with Your Eyes Open for Opportunities to Invest
This week as you go about your life, look for ways that you can meaningfully invest in the people around you. How can you encourage, empathize, sympathize, comfort, inspire, strengthen, enhearten, aid, engage, and love those around you? How can you live and speak the Gospel in authentic ways?
