GOD IS AN INVESTOR (7).

*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*

*GOD IS AN INVESTOR (7)*

*Scripture Treasure.*

Matt 25:14-30.

v14 *For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.*

v15 *And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.*

v16 *Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.*

v17 *And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.*

v18 *But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.*

v19 *After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.*

v20 *And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.*

v21 *His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.*

v22 *He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.*

v23 *His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.*

v24 *Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:*

v25 *And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.*

v26 *His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:*

v27 *Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.*

v28 *Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.*

v29 *For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.*

v30 *And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.*

*Insight and Highlight.*

If Kingdom investment can involve risks, we should not be surprised that business investment has risks.

*Scripture Commentaries.*

Jesus teaches us that investment can involve some risks and does have risks.

Each investment in the three was risky but two eliminated their risks by managing it to build a resilient portfolio, to build a portfolio that stood the test of time and was able to balance potential growth with stability.

Each of them was operating under the same economic conditions but two were risk tolerant.

The beauty of knowing Jesus is the transparency of gains and losses, righteousness and sin, rewards and consequences, death and resurrection, Heaven, Satan and hell, etc.

No one will be caught unawares and no one would say they did not know what is happening or would happen in the future-present and future-eternity, ref John 14:1, 1 Cor 15:52, 1 Thess 4:16.

For every action, there is a reaction, ref Gal 6:7-8.

Jesus teaches us that truly there may be some reasons why investment may be hard to consider. Often they can be unavoidable risks tied down to some factors as we see in the economic world today.

In today's world, factors can be potential threats: economic downturns, market volatility, currency fluctuations etc.

When these are present you can minimize potential losses by optimizing financial goals by diversifying investing.

In other words you can, instead of investing, save your money to yield interest on the deposit, investing in a variety of areas to avoid overexposure to any single one.

Jesus told the third servant he could have sought after other various options. He mentioned exchangers (trading money for money for a fee).

This could have been an offsetting alternative position to mitigate his risks and losses.

This, Jesus suggested would have kept his losses (his risk levels) within acceptable boundaries.

The master said to the servant in Matt 25: 27 *Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.*

While it is good to invest, but considering the instability in the market you can be sure that putting your money in an interest yielding account can help you gain rather than lose.

The master told the third servant who hid his talent he was unprofitable not to have turned over the talent.

Jesus may not only have condemned the third servant for hiding the talent, His condemnation must have be more serious because he did nothing with the talents that he had the potential to gain up.

What would God call you when He comes to assess you?

Profitable or unprofitable servant?

*Remorse corner.*

The success of the first two and loss from the third teach us the relations between risk management, information handling, and the trading of risk and information.

*Call to word action.*

A return is expected on Kingdom investment ; inaction is as worse as losses and is viewed as poor management.

*The Christian clarion duty.*

Risk and action to avert risk are

opposites. For every potential risk there must be a reaction of greater strength to act in an opposite direction to avert the risk.

*Prayer.*

Lord, make me a good manager of Kingdom investment in this world of uncertainty, in Jesus name.

Good morning all and have a blessed day.

God bless you.

Shalom.