Articles
L.I.A.
I don’t know how it started, but at some point employers felt the need to get creative with their job titles. Suddenly, secretaries weren’t secretaries anymore—they were administrative assistants. Overnight, janitors became custodial engineers. Their job didn’t change. Their pay certainly didn’t change. Just their title. While all of that was going on, I felt left out, and wondered what would be a better title for preachers like myself. The title I landed on was Longterm Investment Advisor. It may not be the catchiest title, but it is awfully accurate, isn’t it?
The gospel is a divine plan where people can take advantage of our opportunities during our short life, investing time and effort, with the goal of having an eternal reward waiting for us once this life is over. Peter put this succinctly, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” (Acts 2:41). Jesus said, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” (Mt. 6:20). This is the message and work of a preacher so they can accurately be called Longterm Investment Advisors (or an LIA if you’re one of those people who prefers acronyms).
As an LIA, here are some points that I highly recommend:
Think long term. Your average financial investment advisor helps people save money for when they are old. For a young person, old seems like a distant reality, a long way off. But an LIA isn’t focused on your retirement years. Think even older and longer. An LIA will urge you to think about what comes after you die. You will only be old for a few years on earth (unless you are one of those who doesn’t even live long enough to ever be old). What comes after that is eternal. It would be foolish to focus your life on making a few years as comfortable as possible and neglect preparations for the eternity that follows.
Sacrifice now for rewards later. This is the same principle that financial advisors preach. If a twenty-year-old could find some way to consistently save up a hundred dollars a month and invest that money they could potentially have over million dollars by the time they retire without ever doing anything else. When we are just getting started, one hundred dollars can be hard to set aside. Income is low and bills are high. Where will the money come from? Sacrifice. Drive a cheaper used car rather than a new car. Skip your morning coffees from the coffee shop. Sacrifices like that can easily save us over a hundred dollars a month. However, that is about financial advice saving up for retirement. An LIA would tell you to think bigger. Store up treasures in heaven (Mt. 6:19-20). Do not put your focus on the uncertainties of money (I Tim. 6:17). Choose to endure and suffer in the short term rather than enjoying the “passing pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25). Is it a sacrifice to give up pleasures? Yes. But it is a sacrifice that has gigantic returns in the afterlife—much more than a million dollars. The reward we should seek is one of eternal life with God and an unending home without pain or sorrow (Rev. 21:3-4; Rom. 2:6-7).
Keep your eye on the goal. Keep thinking long term. When Christianity gets difficult we need to be like Jesus and keep our focus on “the joy set before” us (Heb. 12:2). Maybe we can sacrifice our pleasures for one day, but to reach our goal, we must do it day after day for as long as we live. That can be exhausting. Why are we making these sacrifices? Why are we depriving ourselves and enduring hardships? Why do we live the way God wants us to live rather than satisfy our own passions? The answer is heaven and eternal life. Keep your eye on the long term goal or else you may not have the endurance to finish the race.
