So I’m a 3rd year finance student at University of Johannesburg... And i wrote Investment Management (my last exam for the semester) this last thursday. Perhaps it was due to me being in the investment exam mindset, or maybe because university studies has trained my mind to think financially that the following passage became so meaningful to me:
“Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” 2 Tim 1:14
Hm, the GOOD DEPOSIT. like a bank deposit? yes, exactly like that... as i sat thinking about what this could mean i drew the following parallels that i’d briefly like to expound on:
Term to Maturity:
Every investment has a term to maturity, that is, a time when the policy or investment will pay out. There is a simple principle that you become very aware of the more financial calculations you do: and that is that the more you are able to sacrifice now (lets say for your pension), the more you will benefit later. So thoughts of sacrifice come to mind. We should live making constant provision for our spiritual future.
Rating:
Most investments are rated depending on their historical performance and also on the fund’s possibility of defaulting on payment. If my fund had a rating, what would it be? If there were other celestial beings keen on investing into funds (which thankfully there aren’t), would I be attractive to them based on my soundness and my tendency to always give God his due?
Initial Amount
Investments can be lump-sum amounts, monthly or periodic payments (more often known as annuities) or combinations of the two. In our case with Christ, the initial amount is HUGE. He has entrusted to us more than we deserve to have. It is a big deposit and we will be called into account for what we have done with it, i reckon... Just like the parable of the talents. And since God knew we would be stupid bankers, he has given us the Holy Spirit to help us.
Yield to Maturity:
This could be said to be the performance of the investment. It’s yield. It’s interest rate. In this case, we are the bank. We are the fund managers and the performance of this fund is entirely our responsibility. Does it lose value or does it grow? And if it grows, then at what rate does it grow? Well, that’s up to us isn’t it?
The Investor
The Investor is God. Investing always has risk (unless you invest in government bonds which are considered to be a risk-free investment cos if they don’t have cash to pay out then they can always just print some). Investing into humans must be the riskiest of all. Humans get lost. Humans become confused so easily. Humans forget they have a deposit to protect. If i were a prudent investor i would look elsewhere in the universe to open up an account. But, no, God has chosen to open the account with us on the day that we received him, and now the deposit has been made. And it is up to him what returns we give him.
So all these points came to mind, and I am aware the some of them are stretched in order to be relevant. But the Bible became more real to me this morning as I looked at it in a way that I could understand it best. I am encouraged by the fact that the Bible speaks to all sorts of people- even the bankers.
Posts
