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In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach explores the idea of whether your life portfolio is diversified enough, using a New York Times article about runners who are forced to stop running. He unpacks how easily people can build identity around temporary things like hobbies, careers, or achievements, and what happens when those things are taken away. He then points to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6, showing how true security comes from investing in eternal things rather than over-attaching our lives to what won’t last.
Have an article you’d like Pastor Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!
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What is Wake Up, Look Up?
Check out new episodes of our daily podcast, Wake Up, Look Up, with Zach Weihrauch as he interprets what's happening in our world through the lens of the gospel.
Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, is your portfolio diversified enough? This is prompted by an article I read in the New York Times by Liz Krieger called When Lifelong Runners Are Forced to Quit. And as the title might suggest, this is not about your stock portfolio. It's actually about your life portfolio, your hobbies, your interests, where you find value. 50 million Americans run regularly, and for many of them, it is an exercise, but it's also a lifestyle. It's the space where they find emotional stability, the place where they find their community and their identity. And, of course, the problem with that is, as is often the case, eventually your body won't let you run anymore. And if you've built your life around running, that can put you on pretty shaky ground. The article looked at a number of runners, people who had run marathons, half marathons, who had really been built a community around running, but could run no longer because of degenerative arthritis or long Covid or chronic fatigue syndrome, or any number of. Of reasons. In fact, one, runner who can't run anymore said, it feels like. Listen to this. Not being able to run feels like a divorce or the death of a loved one. The article was showing is that for people who identify as runners, the inability to run really leaves them with an inability to understand or identify who they are anymore. You know, when I read this, it, made me think of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6, kind of in the middle of his sermon on the Mount when he says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where thief and rust and moth can destroy, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. You know, we always read that verse as though it's about money, and it is right? Jesus is saying, don't over invest your money in the things of this earth, because the things of this earth are temporary. Instead, think eternally about how your money can invest in the long game. But he's talking about investing in general. Money is a way we do that. Time is a way we do that. Identity is a way we do that. What Jesus is saying is if you primarily root who you are in something earthly, you're always on shaky ground because there's really nothing you could give yourself to that is permanent. You can run for a period of time and then you Can't. And, and if, when you think about yourself, you think about yourself as a runner, well then who are you? Of course, the same is true if you build your life around your career. Eventually they will kick you out, your children, eventually they will move out. Your marriage at best, eventually after a long marriage, you'll lose your spouse. my point is, Jesus is saying if you over invest in any one, let's call it life stock quote unquote, you're going to find yourself bankrupt at some point. And so he's calling us to diversify, and he's calling us to diversify by adding the kingdom, to our portfolio. It's not bad to be a runner. Of course, it's not bad to want to advance in your career, to want to have a healthy family. You just can't build a life exclusively around those things. So I think this article and this call of Jesus is a great opportunity to think about your life, your time, your interests, your hobbies, what you're about as a stock portfolio. And to say, have I become a little too one dimensional? You know, I find this in people all the time when they'll say they're too busy to engage in the local church in a meaningful way, too busy to come regularly on the weekends, too busy to get in a small group, to get in a Bible study, to form meaningful spiritual relationships, to serve. but that's always because they've over invested in one stock. It's the same as a financial principle. I have a limited pool of money. If I put a significant amount of money in any one stock that I can literally say, I wish I could invest in something else, I don't have the money. But that's because I'm choosing not to have the money. What this article is doing and what Jesus is doing is challenging us to say, well, what if you actually decreased in something? And what if you said, I'm over invested in family, I'm over invested in career, I'm over invested in running or golf or fishing or. You get the point, fill in the blank. I need to actually shrink back in that in order to free up time to invest in the things that really matter. Jesus is telling us there's a day coming where everybody's portfolio gets cashed in. The life has been lived and the accounting happens before God. And he's telling us how silly it would be in that moment to say to God, well, at least I got my mile time down or whatever the equivalent is for you. No, we want to have lives that are diversified and lives in which the Kingdom of Jesus plays a significant part. So today, choose what needs to decrease and what needs to increase for you to live a life that in the end, you'll be glad you lived. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or website ccchapel.com.
Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!