Matthew 25:21 “Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.”
My boys have started to ask repeatedly about whether they can start buying in-app purchases for their favorite mobile game, Brawlstars. At first I responded no, to which they protested that all their money from Chinese New Year packets goes directly to me, even though it’s really their money. “Shouldn’t we be able to spend just a little bit of it?”
I sensed a teachable moment, and suggested that we start a plan to learn about how to invest their money, and we could use some portion of those returns for in app purchases. Last night we kicked off our first session, which started in an a rather amusing fashion.
“The three main variables to how much money you end up with are your principal, your yield, and time. You know what time is. Do you know what principal is?”
“Yes like the principal of our school!”
“Well that’s a different kind of principal. This kind is how much money you start out with. What about yield. Do you know what that is?”
“Yes I pray that every day! ‘God we yield to your commands…’”
After covering some basic ground on risk/reward and the difference between stocks and bonds, I mentioned that we have a live pre-IPO opportunity in the Amasia portfolio that I’d be happy to welcome them into, and after hearing about the business model and looking at their website, Kyan stated with conviction “ok, I’d like to put 500 dollars into that.” Luke decided that he was happy to do the same.
After explaining a bit more about liquidity, and deciding on a strategy for the rest of the portfolio, I shared the parable of the talents, and why God gives us gifts. “I believe he loves watching us enjoying what he’s created for us, but I also believe He loves watching us grow those gifts, and giving them back to the Kingdom.”
Luke sheepishly replied “well then I’m only going to spend one dollar on in-app purchases and I’ll invest the rest, ok?”
God, this morning I’m reminded of how you use the desires of my heart to change the condition of my heart. In-app purchases aren’t evil, and in fact I like playing games with my kids, but without enacting stewardship, free flow screen time with unlimited in-app purchases would destroy my boys. Thank you for blessing me with good gifts to enjoy, and thank you also for using my desire to align my heart with yours. I love you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.