The Great Investment

Isn't it interesting how so many things come in threes? There are three aspects of God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are three parts of humans--body, mind, and soul. There are three stages of life--eternity past, eternity present, and eternity future. The Pauline epistles refer to a group of three as well; Paul writes of faith, hope, and charity. The Hebrew chronologist speaks of the inner court, the outer court, and the holy of holies. Even our government breaks down into three branches: the executive, the judicial, and the legislative, all three working together to form a system in which justice is served.

In my near 25 years of pastoring, I have discovered another cohesive triplet that is essential to the life traveler in order to be happy and successful. We can carry only a limited number of bags if we are to move efficiently and effectively to our desired destination. I believe there are three bags we should all carry: faith for the hard times; family for the fulfillment of intimate and interpersonal needs; and finances through which one acquires the luxury of options. Faith, family and finance--if you carry these three and not destroy one in the pursuit of another, nothing is impossible.

To achieve success, any sojourner needs to have those three bags and five concepts plotted out on a map to get to a destination expeditiously and securely. We need to locate our faith in the favor of God; identify our gifting; recognize the power of a plan; learn that giving is the cycle that releases more in our lives; and always have the knowledge that 10% of what we have is not ours--but belongs to God.