Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Investing in the Kingdom: One Share of Coca-Cola - Mark Batterson

I'm going to paraphrase an article Mark Batterson just posted on his blog Evotional.com.  If you aren't familiar with Mark, he pastors National Community Church in Washington, DC, and he authored In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase (which I reviewed HERE).

Begin Mark's brilliance:

If you purchased one share of Coca-Cola when it went public in 1919, how much do you think it would worth today?

We need a paradigm shift when it comes to giving. You don't have to. You get to. We naturally think that the more we give the less we'll have. Not true. God can do more with 90% than we can do with 100%. It comes down to the law of measures: "With
the measure you use it will be measured unto you." I believe that. I've
experienced that. And I'm gonna preach that, even in a tough economy!

I like to think of giving as buying stock in the kingdom. And the truth is that those kingdom shares will earn compound interest for eternity. Talk about a Return on Investment (ROI). Eternal dividends!

I did a little research to put it in perspective. If you purchased one share of Coca-Cola stock in 1919, and simply held that one share, by the year 2000 it would have split into 4608 shares. And that original $40 investment, if you kept reinvesting the dividends, would have been worth $7 million. Dang! To further your pain, if your great-great grandparents had purchased one of Asa Candler's original shares in 1892, that $100 investment would be worth $7.34 billion. Dang! Dang!

Here's the bottom line: we'll never regret one ounce of energy, one second of time, or one penny of money invested in the kingdom of God.

I often think of the band of sisters in Luke 8 who supported Jesus. They got in on the Initial Public Offering (IPO). They were the original shareholders.
What a return on investment! But nothing has changed. Sure, we're
talking about Alexandria, VA not Jerusalem, Israel. But it's all about advancing His kingdom.

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