The Best Investment

The best investment you can make with your life is in people. Jesus spent the majority of this earthly ministry walking around with 12 guys, teaching them along the way. What am I doing? Who am I investing in? These are questions I have found myself asking as of late. At the end of my life it won't be the success of my business that gets up and says something. It probably won't be people who liked my facebook page or follow me on twitter. It will be those I spent my life with, the ones I poured myself into. Relationships matter, so I need to live like it. Lately I've been so convicted about this area. I want to give everything I've got to my relationship with Christ, with my husband, with my family and with others.

Yesterday I listened to several podcasts by Christine Caine that I thought were very poignant. The gist of them was this:

A small person needs to bring others down so they can feel good about themselves. A big person, truly secure in Christ, wants others to climb on their shoulders and far surpass them. Do we rejoice when God is blessing and using others? Do we uplift and encourage them? Do you celebrate when others move ahead more quickly than you do?

I want to be that kind of person. I want to invest in people. As my friend Heather said, "our ceiling - their floor." Am I really that invested in others? Do I truly want to see them surpass me, or am I so selfish that I want more from them than I give. Am I generous with my praise and careful and constructive with my criticism? Do I really care that much?

As a follower of Christ I am called to this. He lowered Himself in order to lift us up. He put our well-being above His own, so much so that He took on the agony of the cross. This is the model I have chosen for life. As John the Baptist said as put in the message version, "This is the assigned moment for Him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines." I want to be so plugged into Jesus and so invested in others that I am more than content to "slip off to the sidelines" and let them have the spotlight. I have this one chance, this one life to invest. How will I use it? How will you use it?