[Today we have a guest post by Scott Naylor, director for Keynote’s acoustic rock band, blue sky nine]
“Thank you for giving up your husband so he could serve us here…”
I recently got back from a concert tour in Romania with blue sky nine. Before I left Bucharest, the wife of one of the Romanian campus ministry leaders gave me a note for my wife containing the above sentiment. It was a sweet – and insightful – way to acknowledge the sacrifices that my wife and family are making that enable me to be on tour, serving other ministries and sharing the gospel.
I can’t tell you how meaningful it was that someone thought to do that.
Any investment we make for God’s kingdom (whether it’s labor, influence, finances, or expertise) comes at some cost. And when I’m not careful (especially when it involves time away from my wife and kids), it’s easy for me to dwell on the things I’m giving up. That can make it difficult to do it with a proper attitude.
But every investment also produces results. Remember the parable of the sower:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:3-9, NIV, emphasis added)
What’s interesting is that the cost of the seed never comes up. I don’t want to pull too much out of this, but I don’t think it’s because Jesus doesn’t care about the cost of the seed. He knows what it costs. But He also understands that a 30, 60 or 100-fold return MORE THAN OFFSETS the cost of the seed that didn’t produce any results.
And the results, as he explains later in the story, are people that hear and understand the word of God. The results are changed lives.
So, of course, the costs of our sacrifices are part of the equation. But when I can stay focused on the results, it is much easier for me to be joyful about the cost. (It’s worth noting, by the way, that the word ‘sacrifice’ literally means ‘to make holy’. That’s what I want to focus on – the fact that people are being made holy.)
Something as simple as a note to my wife was amazingly helpful in keeping my mind centered…not on what I am investing, but on what I am investing in.
Scott Naylor
blue sky nine
Team director and lead guitar
Question: How have you seen the principle of investing now for a future return played out in your life?
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