Observing Investing...

For several weeks, we have been looking at what the Bible has to say about the subject of money and finances. This week, I would like to talk about a very practical and yet misunderstood aspect of how we manage the money, possessions, and treasure we have been given. And that aspect involves the issue of investing. My hope and prayer this week is that we would be able to wrap our heads and hearts around three specific answers to three specific questions.

First, my hope and prayer is that we would be able to wrap our minds around what investing is. In other words, that we would understand on a practical level what we are talking about when we talk about investing.

Second, my hope and prayer is that we would be able to wrap our minds around why we should invest. In other words, I want to answer the question why do I need to worry about invest? Does investing really matter?

And third, my hope and prayer is that we would be able to wrap our minds around how we should invest. In other words, in a practical way, how can we as individuals wisely invest the money and treasure we have been given? So let’s take each of these questions head on, one at a time, so that we would be able to come to discover the answers.

Investing, simply put, is making financial plans and provision for the future. Investing is the opposite of debt, which we talked about last week. Investing makes provision for tomorrow, while debt is presuming upon tomorrow. There are two types of investing. The first type of investing is called short term savings, which involves putting money aside that is easily and readily accessible to provide for emergencies or future purchases.

Dave Ramsey, who is a financial expert that I highly recommend, recommends that the first financial goal that one should have is to have $1,000 put away in an emergency fund, or short term savings. After achieving the second goal, which is to be debt free except for a house payment, Ramsey suggests that a person or family have between 3-6 months income set aside in what he calls a fully funded emergency fund, or short term savings account.

The second type of investing is long term savings, or investments, which are designed to provide for long term needs or goals. A question that often arises at this point is “well, Dave, why is that so important? And why should I really become so focused on savings or investing?” And this question or objection, whether or not it is verbalized, is apparent in the statistics of our culture when it comes to investing, especially short term savings.

Studies have discovered that the average American is three weeks away from bankruptcy. The average American is three weeks away from bankruptcy because they have either no emergency fund or short terms saving, significant consumer or mortgage debt, or a combination of the two.

Here is a question to consider? If you were somehow unable to work and earn a paycheck, how long would it be until you would be unable to pay your bills? For the average American, it is only three weeks. After missing one paycheck, the average American is in a position, where they do not have the financial resources to pay their bills apart from going deeper into debt.

And this problem is not a new problem. This is a problem that has been around for thousands of years. As a matter of fact, around 2,950 years ago, the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, wrote a proverb to his son that is recorded for us in our Bibles in the book of proverbs. A proverb is a little slice of truth about the way things generally happen in life.  And it is in a section of this proverb that we see revealed for us the reason why we should invest and why investing matters. So let’s look at this proverb together, beginning in Proverbs 6:6:

Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise,

Here we see Solomon engaging a person who he refers to as a sluggard. Now a sluggard is someone who is lazy and sluggish. A sluggard is one who lives a life that is reactive in nature and whose lifestyle is marked by lethargy, laziness, and a lack of motivation. Solomon commands such a person to go to the ant and observe her ways.

If Solomon was to communicate this command in the language we use in our culture today, this command would sound something like this: I want you to go watch how an ant lives their life so that can learn something from the life of the ant that you have not learned in your own life.

Solomon then explains that what the sluggard, or lazy person, would learn from the lifestyle of the ant would make them wise. In the book of Proverbs, the phrase to be wise or the word wisdom refers to a developed skill for living life that brings positive results. In other words, Solomon is saying, “your lifestyle of laziness and lethargy is not going to bring you positive results, so go learn from the ant so that you can develop some skills for living life that will bring you positive results”.

Tomorrow, we will see Solomon describe to the sluggard the wisdom of the ant that produces such positive results…