Become a spiritual billionaire
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Each time the news reports a person has just won millions of dollars in the lottery, I wonder what I would do if something like that happened to me. My car has a LOT of miles on it so the first thing I would probably do is buy a new car. I have a list of places I would love to donate, and after that, I’m not really sure where the rest of the money should go.
I don’t know much about the world of investments. My adult life has been spent in the ministry, and managing money usually meant making sure we tucked some away and only spent what was left over after that. There were months when the money ran out before the month did, but thankfully, that didn’t happen often. But if I were handed millions of dollars, I would need great advice from someone considered an expert.
I’ve always been interested in knowing more about Warren Buffett. He seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to investing money. I like that he lives in Nebraska, not New York City. I like that his commonsense approach has worked for him. I ran across an article from the Harvard Business Review written by a good friend of Warren Buffett that made me like the billionaire even more.
Warren Buffett is brilliant at picking companies to invest in. As the article’s author said, Warren Buffett “is a longtime investor in Berkshire Hathaway, the company that under Buffett’s guidance has seen its share price rise in 33 years from $7.60 to approximately $30,000.”
Buffett didn’t win the lottery. He used his brilliant mind and did much better than that! That caused me to consider how Buffett’s investing theories would apply to our spiritual lives. How do we take all that God has given us and invest those gifts and talents in a way that would make us “spiritual billionaires?”
Applying Warren Buffett’s sound advice to our souls
- We don’t have to guess about spiritual wisdom. God makes his will known. Warren Buffett “likes to say that there are no called strikes in investing. Strikes occur only when you swing and miss.” Spiritually, there are no called strikes either. If God has said it, God is still saying it. We don’t have to guess which pitches to swing at. We swing at the pitches God sends over our plate. God’s word says, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever” (Psalm 119:160). When we study and learn God’s word, we gain the truth that will make our spiritual lives wealthy now and eternally.
- We don’t need to expect perfection. We do need to expect failures. Buffett’s advice: “You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will.” We will not make perfect choices until we live in heaven. Until then, we should expect to make a few foolish decisions. Scripture says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). Even Warren Buffett has made a few investments that have not worked out. We should invest our lives in the word of God, knowing that there will be days we allow God’s word and will to lead and other days we will follow some fools (often ourselves). Thankfully, God will keep working to redeem our mistakes and make us wise. Our spiritual lives will increase and prosper as we make more wise decisions than foolish ones.
- God’s word will protect us from wrong ideas. Buffett’s friend wrote, “Warren likes to say that a good business is like a castle and you’ve got to think every day, ‘Is the management growing the size of the moat? Or is the moat shrinking?’” John 14:26 says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” As we study, learn, and memorize Scripture, the Holy Spirit can bring to mind what we have learned when we need it. In many ways, God’s word is the moat Buffett described. We surround ourselves with knowledge of the truth, and there is a hedge of protection against the ideas and suggestions of the world. It’s much easier to detect a counterfeit bill if you hold a real one simultaneously. The Bible is a most important treasure, and we should surround our lives with its protections.
- God’s word will help us manage and prioritize our spiritual calling. The article says this about Buffett: “Managers are expected to concentrate on the businesses they know well so that Warren is free to concentrate on what he does well: investing.” Christians need to remember Paul’s words to the church in Corinth. Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians makes it clear that we need to be thoughtful to manage our time using the umbrella of God’s gifting. Paul wrote, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, … (1 Corinthians 12:4–11). God has a plan and a calling for our lives. Obedience to God’s plans will result in our spiritual blessings. We have individual gifts which manifest the Holy Spirit’s work and result in the common good. In other words, God didn’t gift us to do everything. If we do not manage our lives under the leadership of God’s word and Spirit, we will be busy doing things God didn’t call us to do. In fact, we will do things that God has called someone else to do, and we might keep them from experiencing and receiving the blessings God had planned for them. We don’t prosper spiritually if we fulfill someone else’s calling instead of our own.
- Spending time in God’s word is investing time well. Buffett’s friend said, “One habit of Warren’s is that he keeps his schedule free of meetings. He’s good at saying no to things. He knows what he likes to do—and what he does, he does unbelievably well. He likes to sit in his office and read and think. There are a few things he’ll do beyond that, but not many.” John Stott was a wise theologian who said he needed an hour a day, a day a week, and a week a year alone with God. Now granted, Stott never married or had children, so he was able to invest more time with God. Nevertheless, if we don’t keep our schedules free of some lesser things, we won’t find the time we need to invest in God’s word and will. It takes lots of time to think, pray, and listen for the guiding voice of God’s Spirit. What do you want to be the best at? Interestingly, if we will aim to be the best we can be spiritually, we will want to invest our time in God, for his glory. The returns on that investment pay off eternally.
What does your spiritual portfolio look like?
Warren Buffet is known for giving good advice, most of the time. God’s word is perfect advice all of the time. I’ll close with some valuable truth from God’s word about our spiritual investment portfolio. If you will wisely invest your thinking in these words—God’s truth—you are guaranteed eternal wealth and rewards. Peter wrote:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3–7).
I hope you feel like a spiritual billionaire today. If not, just change your investment strategy, and you can become one. Genuine faith is more precious than gold, and the returns are riches forever.
