Risk, Investment, And Getting Old - Ecclesiastes 11:1-12:8 Series

And if you question that, read your Bible and see if there is any place where God approves of farming – which is nothing but risk. One hail storm and you can lose your one paycheck for the entire year! I know a guy that happened to three years in a row. It is a risky profession, and yet - isn’t the hard working farmer a noble character in Scripture? Or how about having children? Are you taking a risk when you conceive a child? By conceiving that child you are committing to love and care for that child all the way to adulthood (and many times even beyond that). And this is a person you have never even met. Before hiring someone to work for you, you do extensive interviews. Before ordaining someone as a pastor, we do extensive examination. Before entering into a business relationship with someone, you check that person out thoroughly. But when you conceive a child, there is no interview of any kind. You have no idea if this person will be outgoing or introverted, loud or quiet, big or small, academic or artsy, left brained or right brained, healthy or sick, – you know nothing about this person that is going to be a family member for the rest of your life. Not only that, but you don’t know what is going to happen to your ability to care for this child. You could lose your job, lose your house, lose your health, lose all your money. Talk about risk! And yet is God in favor of childbearing in Scripture? Absolutely - the very first command ever given: be fruitful and multiply. God wants us to get out there and take risks.

Minimize Risk Through…

But on the other hand, God does not want us to take foolish risks. Investment is good, gambling and recklessness are bad.

“But how do I know the difference?”

That is where wisdom comes in.

1) Wisdom

Understanding the difference between recklessness and wise risk taking is a life-long process of gaining wisdom. Wisdom observes the direction God has been taking things, and what is likely and unlikely to happen, and plans accordingly. When we moved to this building, it was a risk because we had to commit to buy it within two years of moving in, and we didn’t have the money. We would have to almost double in size before we would be able to afford it. Was that a risk? Yes. Was it a foolish gamble? No, because all signs were pointing in that direction, and so it was a good risk. Wisdom can look at a risk and determine what is most likely to happen. That is why wise people don’t buy lottery tickets. They understand probabilities.

2) Diversification

2 Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don't know what disaster may happen on earth.

Diversify. You don’t know what disaster might happen or where, so to guard against that, invest in multiple different places. The reason they say, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is because some disaster could come along and crush that basket and you lose everything. That is the point of a mutual fund – lots of different stocks in one fund so if one stock tanks, all the others still give you an increase.