The Wonder of Investing in Others

During this last month we have been talking a lot about the importance of investing in others. From talking about God to sharing our faith to teaching to just sharing God’s love, investing in others is important. It is important for those we invest in, but it is important for us as well. Investing in others can bring a new kind of wonder into our own lives.

I think the apostle Paul clearly understood and experienced this. We know that throughout his ministry he consistently invested in the lives of others: in the churches he planted and the leaders he developed. In 1 Thessalonians 2:8 he told the church at Thessalonica this:

“Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.”

I love his wording here, “we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives.” While Paul was never bashful about sharing the gospel with others, it is obvious in this verse that Paul’s preaching and investing in others was motivated by love. This was a love that wanted to see people learn and grow in relationship with Christ and in Christ-likeness. In that same chapter in Thessalonians, he compares his love and care for them with the love and care of a mother. That metaphor of a mother conveys tender care, but loving mothers will also guide and correct because they love their children enough to want to see them grow to be the best people they can be. Paul was certainly never hesitant to guide and correct those around him, but ultimately it was motivated out of love.

That love for the people came out of Paul’s love for God. His love for and investment in the people was ultimately to honor God and not to please the people or be well-loved by everyone. We see this whole picture in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-8 where it says:

“For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness—nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.”

As we seek to invest in others, we need to make sure that we are properly motivated. Our investment in people should come first from a love for God and desire to please Him. That love then overflows into a love for people and desire for them to be able to live fully and abundantly as God has created them. That love enables us to then invest in their lives in healthy, productive, helpful ways. That doesn’t always mean that we will be loved and appreciated by those we are investing in. There will likely be challenging and difficult moments. If we are grounded and motivated through our love for God, then that love and His Spirit help us get through those challenging times. If our motivation gets skewed though and our desire is no longer just out of love and desire to please God, then we can quickly find ourselves in unhealthy situations of people pleasing, greed, desire for glory and influence, and so much more. We need to do as Paul said in those verses and allow God to examine our heart and make sure it is where it needs to be.

When we take time to examine our hearts and are serving and investing in others with proper love and motivation, it can truly become a wonder and blessing in our lives. Like Paul, we can find our lives filled with “fond affection” for those “dear ones” we are investing in and be “well-pleased” to continue the important work of investing in the lives of others.