Anne Scheiber was 101 years old when she died in January of 1995. For years, she had lived in a tiny, run-down, rent-controlled studio apartment in Manhattan. Rent was $400 a month.
Scheiber lived on Social Security and a small monthly pension, which she received when she retired from working for the IRS. The year she retired, her salary was $3,150/year.
When she died, she left her estate to Yeshiva University in New York City. Imagine the surprise of Norman Lamm, the president of Yeshiva, when he discovered that Anne Scheiber’s estate was worth $22 million. (John Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership).
Anne Scheiiber knew a secret about investing. A tiny investment from every paycheck pays a huge reward over time!
I want to challenge you to make a tiny, weekly investment that will pay a huge reward over your lifetime. I want to challenge you to offer to the Lord one of the 168 hours he gives you each week—on a Sunday afternoon or evening to talk with your Commander In Chief about his mission for you.
It is not by accident that you have the wife you do, the children or grandchildren you do, the extended family you do, the job you do, the neighbors you do, the gifts and abilities you do. God designed you to impact the world around you.
Christ’s mission for you is to show Christ and his kingdom by establishing his agenda of righteousness in every sphere of your life. His agenda for your marriage is to love your bride as he loves his—sacrificing to meet her needs, to disciple your children and grandchildren, helping them reach their full potential in Christ.
His mission for you is to be the influence of salt and light in the neighborhood, work place, and extended family—to seek as best you can to restore the shalom of Christ’s kingdom in the world he claims as his own. It is to give your corner of the world a foretaste of the redemption and restoration, which Christ invaded this world to accomplish.
Your master has a big agenda for your life. But when do you slow down, stop, and think about that agenda? When do you plan how to accomplish it? When do you reflect on how God wants to use you to impact those around you?
Seeking to accomplish God’s goals in each sphere of your life is like achieving any other goal. If you fail to plan, plan to fail. We don’t default to staying focused on our mission. We’re not very effective at accomplishing God’s agenda flying by the seat of our pants.
Jesus often left the twelve and went into the wilderness alone. He needed time alone with his Father… and he was perfect. How much more do we need time alone with the Lord to re-set our focus.
But, where do we find the time in the busy 21st century?
What if God gave us one day in seven to rest, reflect, recharge? What if the Lord’s Day is not about legalistic decisions regarding eating at a restaurant or watching a football game. What if the principle is renewal—to refresh, re-energize, refocus our lives for the upcoming week.
Someone has said, If you build the right disciplines into your life, those disciplines will build your life. One hour out of 168. A tiny investment with a huge reward…bigger than $22 million. Celebrating the words, “well done” for eternity.
