Investing often means more than financial input, and involves a degree of risk. Think about this: What is the best investment you have ever made?

Did your answer somehow comprise investing time — investing yourself — in people? Children, spouse, aging parents . . . family? Lifelong friendships? How about the neighbor down the street for whom you mow the yard, shovel snow, check in on to see if they are okay . . . or share what Christ means to you?

What about your riskiest investment? Did investing yourself in the life of another also come to the forefront? Investing in another can pay the greatest dividends yet come at the greatest peril. How much of myself am I willing to invest? How will the other person respond? Will I be misunderstood? Do these questions nudge any anxiety or fear to the surface?

Truly investing ourselves in others requires love — self-sacrificing love, the love that puts thinking of others before thinking of self. This type of love is exactly what Jesus did, setting aside His honor and self-preservation and, at all costs, thinking of us more than Himself. It would be well for each of us to develop this same mindset.1

Our missionaries are cultivating the mind of Christ. They invest their time and lives in the unreached, hoping to introduce them to Jesus and establish church-planting movements.

In this issue, Al-Masih (p. 6), Wyler (p. 15) and Holbrook (p. 28) provide humorous recounts of their own time invested in the unreached. Gabriela Lincoln provides tips on making the most of your daily ministry to others (p. 17). Brian Wilson glorifies God for the exponential church growth He provided through Brian’s self-described “feeble efforts” while working for ADRA in Laos many years ago (p. 33).

Christ has commissioned each of us to invest in others.2 Jesus promises that if we do, He will be with us to guide these investments and, therefore, our rates of return.2,4,5 Christ, Himself, invested time in Paul, who invested time in Timothy, who, amongst other believers, invested time in Christ’s church, of which we are a part (Goodson, p. 4).

If God is calling you to invest your time as a missionary, go to afmonline.org/get-involved to take the first step. May God bless each of us as we make this greatest of investments.3,6  

1Philippians 2:3-11; 2Matthew 28:16-20; 3Matthew 22:36-40;
4Matthew 25:14-30; 52 Corinthians 9:6; 61 John 3:18

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