October 7. Piggy Banks Are No Joke!

As a leader, we make decisions that are about the future. Those decisions sometimes are not ones that immediately help or enhance the present. Leaders hold the vision of what could be, not just of what is or what was. To have shade or fruit in the future you have to plant the tree now.

As leaders, we must use some of the resources of today to be ready for the vision that has been cast of the future as well. There are several examples of the resources that are used today to achieve the vision. Leaders must use some of the precious time of the present to make the plans.

Many people pay present dollars for insurance to protect against damage or harm coming in the future. If you want to build a building for your future team you have to acquire some land before you can build. Capital, time, and thought are resources that leaders allocate for the purpose of an effective vision.

Where can your team put some resources to use for the future and specifically for what you want to happen? Who on your team helps to share and cast that vision? Perhaps bringing in someone from your external network to collaborate with you could challenge you to shape a bigger vision.

What is the first thing that you can do about it in the next seven days?

It is easy for some to get overwhelmed with concern for what damage can happen in the future. Every political cycle seems to bring angst about what will happen if this person or that person is elected. In our faith, we could also allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the abundance available through God.

As a people who have accepted Jesus, we have the ability to put forth efforts today specifically for our future reward. We can pray for tomorrow. We can set expectations for our worship for today and the week to come. Thinking only about what is on your schedule for the week could be short sighted if we ignore how our faith and relationships might be strengthened.

We read, “For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”” Jeremiah 32:15 NLT. Jeremiah was just completing a purchase of land in a country that was about to be conquered and he knew it.

The victors would soon own the land he bought. But he was investing his silver in the future that only God could see. Where can you invest your energy, love and forgiveness in a place that others would not expect? Maybe our benefits can be enhanced by allowing God to control our rewards instead of our focus being on what the world will return for us.

That would be the biggest example of collaboration I think we could use. Where can you invest your energy this week so that Jesus can deliver the benefits? What is the first thing you can do about it in the next seven days?

 Let us pray, Heavenly Father, you can see the future. We give you thanks for the blessings of yesterday and today. Help us to invest our love, our energy and ourselves in a future with you and not just of this world. May the blessings of the past be multiplied to the blessings of the future. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,