October 13, 2024: Investing

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

Investing

Her children were quite surprised to find that Mother did not have a single dime to her name upon her death. A woman with such a frugal lifestyle was surely storing away and planning to leave a hefty inheritance for her offspring. They wondered, where did all the money go? They searched. Perhaps she stuffed it away in a freezer or a floorboard. She meticulously covered her tracks and left no trace of spending or saving it all.

Months later a clue arrived in a returned letter to her vacant address, in a shattered envelope but with the letter still intact. Her children read what was likely her last correspondence, dated just days before her death, to a family in a remote village on the other side of the world. In the letter, she not only introduced herself as a “privileged American,” but she was generously looking for ways to “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor” (Mark 10:21). It was clear from the rest of the letter that this wasn’t the only attempt to send cash across the sea.

It was her final sentence that brought tears to their eyes. She wrote, “I’m just trying to make it easier for God to welcome me into the kingdom. Mark 10:25.”

Now they knew where all the money had gone over the years. It had been invested—not in an institution buying securities, but in God’s kingdom, buying opportunities for those underserved to both hear the gospel and be nourished.

What was her return on investment? A treasure equaling a hundredfold. And the value of her inheritance? A legacy of generosity and possibility in hopes that many will follow in Jesus’ name.

Russ Williams, pastor, New Beginnings Moravian Church
Huntersville, North Carolina