The Spiritual Portfolio
What do engineers, accountants, teachers, managers and attorneys have in common?
Beyond having vital roles in society, you probably can’t think of much. Different sectors. Different skillsets. Varying earning potential.
According to a study published by a popular financial guru, Dave Ramsey, those are the top five most common professions among those who achieve millionaire status. Not celebrities. Not entrepreneurs. Not even doctors.
What Mr. Ramsey wants his listeners to take away is this: Your long-term financial future is not determined by your occupation, or even the size of your paycheck. It depends almost entirely on how you steward the money you have and where you choose to invest it.
There are endless mathematical formulas in determining how we achieve our financial goals. But the end result comes down to daily habits, and those habits are driven by our innermost values. Is it short-term pleasure? Is it a comfortable retirement? Approval of peers? Generosity towards others?
Like our financial portfolio, we also have a spiritual portfolio. Jesus addresses this in Matthew 6:19-21:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Here, Jesus challenges us to consider the kind of heart that our spiritual investments - where we store our treasures - are a reflection of.
Like a soon-to-be retiree checks the balance of their 401(k), the believer will one day see the fruits of their labor on earth. And as it takes many years of regular small deposits to build the retirement nest egg, so also it takes a lifetime of small deposits into the spiritual portfolio to be told, “Well done, good and faithful servant” at the end of our race.
Last October, my family held a bittersweet celebration for the life of my step father, Bill, as his battle with lung cancer had ended.
Bill devoted himself to daily prayer. He spent many evenings planning and leading a vibrant youth program. He regularly attended his teens’ sporting events. He was the first call for many when stranded on the side of the road. He faithfully served the Church as a deacon in his final two years of life. That was his spiritual portfolio.
Bill also made a living in sales, likely with opportunities to climb the ranks of his industry further than he did. Would he have been driving a nicer truck? Perhaps. Would the added demands and travel of a higher leadership position have allowed him to make those same investments in God’s Kingdom? Who knows?
As I surveyed the sanctuary that morning, I saw the fruit of his daily spiritual deposits. Friends and family from countless corners of his life. Coworkers. Mothers and fathers, with their children, who were once discipled in his youth program. Some of those couples even met there. Everyone in attendance knew where Bill’s treasures were stored – treasures he now can rest on in eternity.
Each day, we wake up with a finite amount of time, talents, and resources. We constantly make choices on how to use them, or whether to use them at all. When we devote them to our worldly pleasure, we deposit into a fund that will eventually fail.
Natural disasters strike. Bodies fall ill. Markets crash. Political systems corrupt. And if nothing else, we all will one day reach the end of our life here. Any wealth or status we have accumulated will cease to serve us.
But when we sacrifice worldly pleasure for the spiritual portfolio, we model our Savior who sacrificed everything for us. We deposit into a fund that will yield eternal returns.
Where have you stored up your treasures? Do those choices reflect a devotion to the Lord and His Kingdom?
Have you allowed a worldly pursuit to take up too much of your portfolio?
Finally, what eternal impact do you expect to see from the life you are currently living?
~Jared Grenfell and his wife Grace have have been active members of the LIFE Fellowship community for several years and lead a young adult LIFE Community. Jared has served in various roles on the LIFE Worship team including Music Director.