I’m glad growing up doesn’t happen all at once. I can’t imagine how overwhelmed I’d be. I thought I’d done most of my growing up during and after college, but there’s always more, it seems. Take finances, for example. If you’re lucky, you make a little over minimum wage during college, and if you’re wise, you try to be “faithful in the little” with that money. You tithe off of it, you save what you can, and you put the rest toward gas and textbooks, basically. And then you graduate and get a real job. You get your first paycheck and are nearly blinded by all the zeros… and now it’s time to start being “faithful in much”. But if you’re like today’s average post-grad, it’s not rocket science; now, instead of gas and textbooks, your money goes straight to good ol’ Sally Mae. Pay off your loans first, everyone keeps telling you, and then worry about emergency funds and buying a house and investments. So if you’ve got any sense at all, you listen to them, and you put every extra cent you can toward paying off those loans. And then, a few (or several) years down the road, you get those glorious letters in the mail: “Your loans have been paid in full.” So… now what? This is the question that I have asked myself, and one many others have asked of me, over and over these past few weeks and months. It’s like one more hurdle on the bumpy road to adulthood, and although you’re incredibly elated to be jumping it, you quickly realize just how high of a hurdle it is.
I feel like I’ve learned a new language this month, only this language doesn’t have any new grammars to crack or scripts to learn. It’s the language of personal finances. So, with a heart to pursue wisdom in stewarding the money the Lord has given me, I set out to learn the lingo, kicking myself all the while for not paying better attention in my 11th grade Economics class. I read websites, checked out books from the library, even connected with a financial advisor from my church. And although I still have a long way to go, and there is still much more vocabulary to learn before I’ll be anywhere near fluent in this language, I’ve learned a few key concepts. The younger you start investing, the better, and you don’t need very much to start out with. (That one was my favorite). Don’t invest in anything you don’t understand. Diversify your investments to cushion against future losses. And most importantly, time is the key. It’s all about long-term; kind of like a life-long roller coaster where the longer you stay on, the more reward you get.
But, as you might have imagined, I did not write this blog primarily to share my new wealth of knowledge (pun obviously intended). Yes, it’s good, it’s crucial, it’s biblical, to be wise with the finances God has entrusted us with. The wiser we are, the more resources we will have to give to others and to the Lord’s work. Certainly, we don’t want to be like the servant who hid his money in a hole instead of investing it. But at the end of the day, it will all burn up, whether
you get a return of 4% or 20% for your money, or none at all. And so, in one sense, investing in finances is somewhat like building an elegant mansion in the sand. The waves will inevitably come crashing down, sooner or later. So what then, if not money? What will outlast the waves of time? These are questions that far outweigh any other, not only for brand new adults but for children and senior citizens and teenagers alike.
Fortunately, we are not left in the dark as to the answer. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.” “Not [setting] their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God… rich in good works… thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” The Lord makes it crystal clear in these passages (and in many, many others) that our true treasure does not have anything to do with investing in money, but with investing in the kingdom. I might be the wisest 22-year old possible in regard to financial investments and decisions, but if I am not making investments in the kingdom, it is all worthless- vanity of vanities. If, on the other hand, I make daily deposits into the treasury of God’s kingdom, then I will have a good foundation for the future, and then I will find life. Every conversation, every minute of free time, every choice at work, every relationship… these are all investments for the future, made either to the world or to the kingdom. Scary thought, isn’t it? Much scarier than what mutual fund to invest in or how to budget effectively. Remember Jesus’ words to his disciples after they watched the rich young ruler walk away? “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time… and in the age to come eternal life.” A hundredfold- sounds like a pretty amazing rate of return to me! But I left out a key prepositional phrase from Jesus’ words: “with persecutions”. Investing in the kingdom will cost you. It may cost you everything. But the more you know Him, the more you come to treasure Him, to value Him, to trust Him, and the less value you begin to place on anything this world can offer.
My financial advisor was patiently trying to explain the concept of dollar cost averaging to me the other day. I’m still struggling to understand it all, but he made a good point: if you understand this concept and live by it, then even when you see your money going up and down in years to come, and even when you aren’t getting the pretty dividends other people around you may be getting, you will keep holding on for the ride, because you will know that your reward in the end will make it all worth it. So with the Christian walk. The more you seek to understand Christ, the more you will treasure Him above all else, and as more persecutions and hardships come, you will keep holding on for the ride and keep investing unreservedly with everything you are, with everything you have. Because in this jar of clay you know you are holding unsurpassable, eternal treasure in Christ. This is the only kind of growing up that matters.
