When it comes to investing, the first question any financial advisor has is, “How long are you going to leave your money in?” The differences in strategies are significant depending on the length of the investment. Unfortunately, most of us have a great difficulty in making those important long-term investments because it would mean we would have to put off buying certain things we feel are essential to our happiness right now.
An even more serious question is, “In what are you going to invest your life – the short-term or the long-term?” In this case too, the short-term has a powerful appeal. If we don’t enjoy life now, when will we? Who knows if we’ll even be alive a year from now so why not live life to the max? Jesus, however, shared a much different view of life investment in what has been called throughout history, the Sermon on the Mount. It’s really short, as sermons go, but it is packed with a power which has transcended the millennia. In a few words he says, “God created and saved you for the long-term, so your best bet is to live right now for the long-term.”
The incredible thing about the life Jesus describes is that while it goes completely against the ideas for happiness which saturate our society, the person who puts them into practice discovers a solid, stable sense of peace, contentment and fulfillment. As one Christian put it, “If you live for the next world, you get this one in the deal; but if you live only for this world, you lose them both.” C.S. Lewis
Jesus’ long-term lifestyle is a win-win proposition. Since he rose from the dead, doesn’t that give him a credibility unmatched when it comes to life investments?
