How invested are you?
Reading about last year’s Major League World Series being the hottest ticket in town got Gordon Allan thinking...
Do you love attending large live events, maybe a sporting final, concert or conference? I wonder what was your stand-out memory of that event? I wonder how much it cost to be there and be ‘in the moment’?
I have attended many sporting events, the highest profile being a UEFA Cup Final. Sadly, we lost… I have also been to the occasional Major League Baseball game and have enjoyed the experience. This sporting spectacular lasts for a few hours, is good value and entertaining.
In 2024, the Major League World Series took place in October between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees where each game in the series was sold out. ‘The Hustle’ reported in October that it was ‘the hottest ticket in town’ with an average resale price of some $3,900 on the secondary market for a game in LA. Watching a game in New York would have set you back an average of $4,900! Now that is fully invested in a love of live events and your team!
Reading this got me thinking about what men value and how we invest in the things that are important to us. In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus offers excellent advice and a great filter to assess the ‘what and where’ of how we devote our lives: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Jesus’s teaching is on prioritising eternal ‘treasure’ that doesn’t wear out and cannot be stolen. What we invest our time and talents in reveals our hidden heart priority. Interestingly these verses in Matthew 6 stand right there in the flow of Jesus’ teaching about prayer, fasting, consecration and trust. Could these be some of the eternal values we as MPower men should focus on and invest in?
Investing is strategically ploughing resources into an area to achieve a greater return. What might our lives look like in 12 months if we built these Kingdom qualities into our today while investing into eternity?
We would understand Father God’s priorities more clearly, our lives would exhibit greater purpose, our families would be better led, our gifts used for God’s glory on a regular basis and a biblical lifestyle would be lived out with authenticity and integrity.
And these are things each of us can do. Seek God’s kingdom first. Surrender to him the big and the little things. Step out in faith. Store up eternal treasure.
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.