Investment

“Imagine it’s a Tuesday, October 29, 1929. You are working your regular spot on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, but today is anything but regular. The screams are so deafening you can’t even hear the trading bell. You are screaming as loud as anyone. Your hand is stretched high in the air. You strain for a buyer to see you. You need to move fast. Prices are plummeting. Every time you hear someone make a trade, prices seem to plunge lower. Even solid bets like US Steel and Westinghouse are tumbling. You need to get out. Adult men shove and jostle like grade school kids to be first in line. They are shouting at the top of their lungs. Do their eyes burn as much as yours? You haven’t slept all weekend. Traders clamor as Allied Chemical stocks plummet. Someone wails like he’s just been gutted. You see a man sitting right on the trading room floor holding his head in agony. The din echoes off the exchange’s stone walls. You get ready to offer 1000 shares of RCA at way too low a discount. Just as you open your mouth, you are knocked to the ground. As you scramble back to your feet, you see a portly trader in a gray vest cursing at the man he just pushed into you. The trader’s face reddens as he yells. His rolled-up sleeve tightens as he winds up for a punch. The other trader ducks, but you don’t. The last thing you see is his fist. You come to on the cool, marble floor of the lobby. The drumbeat of pain pounds behind your eyes, blood drips from your nose on to the trading slip clutched between your shaking fingers. And for a second, terror washes over you. The slip is ruined. But then you realize, your worry is meaningless. People are rushing back and forth in the lobby, kicking up hundreds of similar trading slips. Traders have abandoned them. It’s all worthless.” (“American History Tellers” Podcast, Season 10, Episode 1, “The Great Depression”)

In the years leading up to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, investments and borrowing ran high. People were clamoring to use all their resources for the promise of prosperity. The economy was booming, and everyone wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be a part of a thriving future. Yet greed and the illusion of wealth quickly unraveled, and the belief that America was on the verge of eradicating poverty was replaced with hopeless depression as scarcity became a reality for the masses.

“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled investor I planted seed capital, but someone else builds upon it. And each one must be careful how he invests. For there is no financed faith save that which has been established by Jesus Christ. If anyone uses their life to buy shares in this work or in other ventures, each investor’s wisdom will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear at the last bell when the value of every share will be revealed. If someone has invested in the Kingdom of God, His net worth will reveal an exponential return. But if someone’s investments all prove to be worthless scraps of paper to be kicked around in the dust, he will suffer great loss. The investor may still live, but all his investments will be bankrupt.” –1 Corinthians 3:10-15, MPV (My Paraphrase Version)

Are we truly considering our future? Not merely decades down the road, but our eternal prospects? Our days are few and our resources are limited. How are we investing our treasure, our time, and our talents?

“O Lord, help me understand my mortality and the brevity of life. Let me realize how quickly my life will pass.” –Psalm 39:4

When the final Day bell rings and all trading must stop; when the trumpet blows and we stand before the throne of God and are asked to give an account, what will our “reward” be for our investment while we walked this earth? Will we have used our “talents” in the service of His kingdom and able to bring to Him multiplied efforts to lay at His feet and hear “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter the joy of your master” (Mat 25:16-21)? Or will we “suffer loss” because we foolishly spent our efforts on fleeting ventures that end in bankruptcy, our life works found written only on worthless scraps of kindling?

“Therefore consider carefully how you live—not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is.” –Ephesians 5:15-17, NET

“Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
(C.T. Studd, “Only One Life”)