Invest in People 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Jesus Christ for instance spent years, deploying a multi mix of methods to invest in His disciples. They faithfully and successfully pioneered the early Church when Jesus Christ departed planet earth. The Apostle Paul also invested in both his mentees and the many disciples God used him to raise as he planted Churches in Europe and Asia. These mentees became a great blessing to him when he became a very old man. They helped to carry on the work and also labored faithfully in the vineyard when Paul was in prison. The implication of investing in other people is that you are actually investing in yourself. When Ruth chose to invest in Naomi, little did she know that Naomi would also invest in her and she would become the wife of Boaz and when she became the wife of Boaz and mother of Obed. She also further invested in Naomi by bringing Naomi the untold joy of being a grandmother, so to speak.

Beloved, invest in yourself by investing in people around you.

Mordecai invested in his cousin Esther. Though a gateman at the palace; and in a low income bracket, Mordecai chose to raise his orphaned cousin – he provided for her, housed her, and schooled her in the ways of the Lord. And so Esther had a home and a godly older cousin to look up to for protection and provision in a male dominated world. And when suddenly the position of queen became vacant in the land, Mordecai instructed Esther to apply. Accustomed to obeying her older cousin, Esther participated in the national search for a queen contest and won. Because Mordecai had cautioned her not to make known her nationality, no one knew she was related to Mordecai; one of the gatemen at Shushan palace.

Invest in People

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Why?

People are assets, referred to in corporations as either human resources or human capital. Great corporations, families, communities and nations spend fortunes to invest in their human capital. Investing in human capital development is wisdom, the strength of any family, community, nation and corporation is the quality of human capital in it.

People are assets, in point of fact the greatest assets you can think of after your salvation by faith in Christ Jesus. This is because the people you invest in today are the ones who will be there for you tomorrow. Ruth for instance chose to invest in Naomi even when Naomi had nothing to offer in return. Naomi had no sons that would marry her; Naomi had no financial resources to meet their very basic of needs yet Ruth chose Naomi over Moab, her homeland which appeared to offer many pleasant opportunities; she could live in her family home if she chose not to remarry; there were men there who knew her and could ask for her hand in marriage considering that she was a young widow. Her choice then to go with Naomi who in the face of every physical appearance had nothing was like sentencing herself to a life of penury in addition to being an old maid. But as future events played out; it turned out that Ruth saw into the future and tapped into it or she was just following the leading of the God she chose to serve by associating with Naomi.

Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem at harvest time and considering that they were not there at planting season, they had nothing of their own to harvest so they resorted to gleaning, a law which allowed strangers and the vulnerable as well as the poor to up sheaves left on purpose by farm owners and harvesters for such people. Naomi was apparently not strong enough for much physical labor; so Ruth went into the fields on a daily basis to glean for the food they required.

Again, directed and guided by the unseen hand of God, she chose to glean in the fields of Boaz, a man she did not even know was their close relative. Ruth gleaned on a daily basis, harvesting what they required for food so that they did not lack bread. But unknown to Ruth and even Naomi at that point in time, Ruth was not just directed to Boaz’ farm for bread alone. Her steps were divinely directed to Boaz’ farm for divine purposes well beyond bread. Fortunately all of that unfolded when Naomi suddenly realized that she could repay the kindness generosity of Ruth by tapping into the law of near kinsman ship which made it mandatory for near kinsmen to marry the widows of their late kinsmen. So Naomi schooled Ruth in the process (Ruth Chapter 3 verses 1 to 18) and Ruth went to work. Needless to say, Ruth became the wife of Boaz and joint owner of the fields she gleaned in to put bread on the table for her and Naomi. Significantly, she also became the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse who gave birth to David, the ancestor of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.