Would you allow me to take you into the “ancient history” of the late 1970s for a few minutes? As your docent, I promise to give you a look at some vignettes that might portray a dramatic principle that could be a game-changer for you – if you take time to ponder the points. Are you game?

The year was 1976. Atari was a pioneering video game company enjoying success with Pong and other then-revolutionary offerings. That year, that privately-held entity was sold to Warner for $28 million, giving them the capital to expand and exploit their category dominance.

Ronald Wayne was an engineer in his 40s at Atari; he had a younger friend named Steve who envisioned the launch of a tech company that sounded interesting. A third player – another Steve – had some valuable potential to round out the formative start-up’s brain-trust, but the two Steves weren’t connecting well. Wayne was asked to broker their match-up: he created an agreement that got both Steves onboard. The initial partnership was simply defined: each Steve would have 45% of the new entity, and Ron would be vested with an ownership stake of 10% for making the marriage happen.

Within two weeks of the start-in-a-rented-garage enterprise, it became clear to Ron Wayne that he was no entrepreneur; he was far more comfortable in his day-job at Atari. He approached his two majority partners and asked them to buy him out. They scrounged their couch cushions to get the money together; they paid him $800 for his 10% stake in the new, high-risk business venture. 

That was 49 years ago. The zany company was called, simply, “Apple.” The two Steves – Jobs and Wozniak – rode the roller-coaster of Apple’s emergence through the ensuing years. Based on today’s market, Apple stock is trading at just over $200 per share. It’s market cap – today – is pegged at $3.28 trillion. Had Wayne – now 91-years old – maintained his 10% ownership share, his Apple holdings would now be worth $328 billion dollars.

Every time I revisit that true story of opportunity lost, my sense of leverage goes off the charts. Who could imagine the compounding computation that would see an $800 holding – as a passive investment in a venture – become an asset whose multiplied value five decades later would place Wayne in the highest echelons of the Forbes list, just under Elon Musk and above Mark Zuckerberg?

Over and over, Jesus and the Apostles used marketplace metaphors to describe eternal reality as they challenged Jesus’ followers to invest themselves into their long-term potential. Paul did that as he wrote to the Christians in 1^st Century Corinth:

“I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved – even though only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

Every follower of Jesus is viewed as a construction project. Saving faith – a grace-gift from God – is the foundation for our eternal life, but on that foundation each of us continues the build-out of who we are to be. Choices – between wood/hay/straw and high-value options – determine the ultimate value of our personally-constructed identity. “The quality of each person’s work” will be measured by the Lord Jesus as we transition from this temporary world into His eternal Kingdom.

Described in comprehensive terms – across the record of the New Testament – our life pursuits will either yield temporary benefits here and now, or eternal rewards there and then. What’s at stake?

I think often of Ron Wayne’s experience. The choice between $800 in 1976 or $328 billion in 2025 is astounding; the choice between hoarded time/talent/treasure squandered today contrasted with exorbitant investment in Kingdom expression and expansion that will be measured for Kingdom recognition just over the threshold into our never-ending eternal lifetimes is astounding.

I’m out to minimize the regrets that would one-day attach to short-sighted decisions that failed to calculate the ultimate upsides available to those who crack the codes of God’s truth and live with loss of personal enjoyment, here and now. 

If Apple is worth $328 trillion today, what do you think the future value of the Kingdom of Heaven will be on That Day?

Bob Shank

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