Invest your money, not your life.

  This is the slogan I received from a bank. It is good to invest our money, to provide us with security and create good retirement plans and all that. None of which is a bad thing, it's realistic for the time we mortals live on this earth, what we need to get by. How long we will be here, we don't know. However, to have the mentality that that's all there is to life, work hard and invest our money, so we can have nice houses, cool cars, and great clothes, then we are missing the main point and that advice to "Invest your money, not your life." isn't the best out there to hear and put into practice.

  Don't you think that your very own life would be more important than money? Sure you may say, but how about if we go a little deeper, your eternal life. Wouldn't it be great to know that it's invested in something greater, that when you die and your mortal body departs from this place you know there is someplace better you're going?

  Imagine for a moment that you are presently overhearing this conversation go down, think about how it applies to yourself and examine your heart, where are you in that place and time.

"Now behold, one came and said to Him,'Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?'
So He [Jesus] said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.'
He said to Him, 'Which ones?' Jesus said, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
The young man said to Him, 'All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?'
Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'
When the disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, 'Who then can be saved?'
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'"

  To hear Jesus explain this saying to the rich man and to his disciples, where are we? In this passage He is clearly showing what it takes to get in the kingdom of God and have eternal life, the ultimate investment, and it's not by just being a good person and doing the right things.

  You may be thinking, well yes, I get the whole "religious" aspect of it but lets be practical, we need money for everything. Okay then lets get practical... sure this slogan probably didn't mean to come across as something being that your life isn't important. They are just doing their job in advertising that they can help provide security for you and your families and to the generations after you. This is all very well and good, however, if we lose sight of what's really important, what kind of legacy will we be leaving? A pocketbook with an outrageous amount of money to someone without any kind of real substance or a faith in Jesus Christ, an attitude of ultimate discipleship and apprenticeship, leaving all the material things behind to follow wherever Christ so chooses to lead us?

  This is the advice that we should hear and put into practice. This act doesn't come naturally to us, hence the rich man's reaction to it and his sorrowful feelings. A life obedient to Christ needs to be practiced until it becomes second nature. This on our own is impossible and Jesus said it Himself, but with Him, it is definitely more than possible.

Invest your life, not your money.