Investing for Others

Robert Morrison was born into an agricultural family in 1780. He was an average student and a very hard worker. At age 15, Robert gave his life to Christ and devoted most of his time after work to studying the Bible and praying, seeking God’s will for his life even through the night.

Robert noticed that he was gifted by God to easily understand languages, and soon he decided to become a missionary. After the death of his mother, Robert sailed for China. He labored seven years before ever baptizing his first convert and saw only a dozen or so come to Christ during the rest of his lifetime of service.

Some may say Robert had little to show for his work, but as his life was ending there came another man named Hudson Taylor. Because of Robert’s work and prayers, Hudson founded a mission in a country that, at that time, had a total of maybe 300 Christian believers.

Because of a common farmer named Robert Morrison and his praying and putting his prayers into action, Robert paved the way for another. When Hudson Taylor died in 1905, the number of believers had grown from Robert’s seven to 100,000, and 600 additional missionaries came to fill their place in that country.

All of us are paving the way for somebody else to follow behind us and carry on where we will leave off. The greatest question is what will we be leaving? Is it just creating more products or selling more goods, tending the same soil, building more structures- or will we also be leaving a venture that can never be stopped, investing for the eternal cause that builds the greatest dividends? Our greatest investments will be those things that are done for Christ Jesus and the furtherance of His Gospel.