Bags of Gold

Bags of Gold

I have recently been reminded of a story from the Bible that I believe tells us to invest our money. Notice I said, “Our money”. Since everything we have is because of the blessing God has given us, it all belongs to “our master” anyway. Read the following excerpt from Matthew Chapter 25 in the New International Version of the Bible and I’ll tell you how it relates to mine and Summer’s lives at the end.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

I mention this story because we have our own business where we buy and sell both online and at flea markets and festivals. Like most business owners, we have looked into a variety of products to carry and weeded through the ones that did not meet our criteria. We do however keep an open mind about opportunities that come our way.

In fact, just the other day we had a company contact us about some surplus Christian t-shirts they had and needed to move them to make room for their new designs. We took advantage of the opportunity put before us and now have about a hundred left that we can sell for only ten dollars. Keep in mind that the man who called had never done business with us before. Also keep in mind that we were looking for a good product to sell at a friend’s bike rally he was hosting to raise money for a mission trip. We have taken what God has blessed us with to hold and used it to increase our financial position.

Another example is a product we’ve been drinking for some time. It has personally gotten rid of my acid reflux and joint pain that resonates from a knee surgery I had. It has also boosted Summer’s energy level. After drinking it for a while, we realized that we were being like the last servant that hid his gold. We were drinking it and both feeling better, but we weren’t making any money off of it. With a small investment, we went from just drinking to drinking and making money. I’ll insert our website for it here, http://www.robertandsummer.iamlimu.com/. Even though we have been in business for ourselves for years, we were scared to invest in something that we knew worked until just recently.

You may have your own example of not following God’s expectations for you to do with your share of money. You can also change money into abilities. You may have a gift that He’s given you and you are keeping it hidden from the world because of fear. I believe this is the same as that bag of gold in the hole.
To quote one of my good friends, “Let go and let God.” Maybe you’re not supposed to be the next Madonna, but you can lift up your voice to the ones around you. Maybe you’re not supposed to be the next Mark Twain, but you can share your story with the stranger on the bus. And, maybe you aren’t supposed to be the next Denzel Washington, but you can be the leading role in a lost person’s walk to salvation.
I encourage you to search your soul and look through your life to find those hidden bags of gold just waiting to be invested. To take a quote from somebody (origin is disputed), "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results." Are you wasting what God has given you? May God bless you and keep you safe in all that you do in His name. Remember, the fastest way up is to kneel down.

Written by: Robert Lemoine
writing@foreverandalwaysonline.com