“…love one another deeply, from the heart.”
1 Peter 1
‘Investing in people’ is a phrase I hear used in church … it sounds right but it reveals something very different to what we see in scripture about relationships.
‘Investing’, implies an action taken with the expectation of return, preferably quickly. Agape is God’s type of unconditional love.
How our vocabulary betrays us!
As sons of God, we are called to love people, not make ‘investments’ in people. The great commandment was not “Thou shall invest in your brother” … !!!???
“Investing” in people can lead to burn out, loving people does not insist on a return. It does not demand a return and in this way is less burdensome than having to “invest in people assets”. Investing can be risky but love never fails!
This ‘transactional’ approach to people is based in a transactional approach to God. Such that ‘invest’ in people are also those that make religious sacrifices to God, so that God, in return, may ‘pay’ them for their sacrifice in the form of some blessing.
We have not so learned Christ. Jesus Has shown us a better way, the way of love. Don’t invest in people, love them.