Balancing Cashflows is Good, Prioritization of God in Life is Even Better
My newest video continues my series on financial mathematics for actuarial exam 2/fm preparation (it is Video #175 of that series). It also continues the topic of the latest videos, which is immunization of liability cashflows by asset cashflows.
Furthermore, I continue to make use of a spreadsheet as I had done in Video #174 and as I discussed in my previous blog post on immunization. I even found it helpful to make use of a “conditional function” =IF( ) in Video #175.
To get as much as you can out of Video #175, it is best to watch Videos #172, #173, and #174 first. Below I have embedded all four videos in succession. Of course, it will take a while to watch and understand all this, but I think you will find it to be worth the effort.
What Makes It Worth the Effort?
But now I want to make a change-of-pace. Let me start with a question.
What motivates you in life?
Certainly there are many positive aspects of life: making friends, having fun, traveling, and achieving goals are four things that most people would put near the top of their lists. But of course, everyone has setbacks and difficulties in life as well. Life is full of hardships and pain; more for some people than for others.
What helps you push through difficulties? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel that spurs you onward? Do you seek to achieve balance in your life? (Does asset/liability matching and immunization serve as a metaphor for this?)
And what about mathematics and other areas of academic study? Are you motivated just to achieve? To obtain a good job? To obtain success and recognition?
Did your parent(s) or caregiver(s) push you to achieve? Are you pushing forward to please them?
Or are you motivated just to learn: about people, systems, the world, and the universe? Do interconnections and generalizations interest you? Do you find them to be beautiful? Are you a naturally curious person?
For me, all these things can be good, and can be helpful in making it through the hardships of life. But they are all temporary and do not provide me with ultimate satisfaction, comfort, and strength. I find that ultimate satisfaction, comfort, and strength do not come from inside myself or from the world outside myself, but from God.
Through my faith in and love for God, I am thankful to Him and rejoice even more in these things. In fact, by having God as the source of my ultimate satisfaction, He helps me to avoid making the good things mentioned above idols in my life.
All this means that instead of trying to achieve balance in my life, I instead pray to God to help me to correctly order things by priority. My priority list is: 1) God, 2) my wife, 3) my kids, 4) my extended family, 5) my friends, and 6) any other people that I interact with.
I definitely often fail to live my life by this priority list. My sin often prevents me from living in accordance with His will. But this is what I ask Him to help me strive for, and this is what He gives me the power to achieve more often, over time. I do this not because of my pride in my own efforts, because I cannot do it in my own strength, but rather, because it is a way of praising and thanking Him.
Does mathematics fit in this list? Does my job fit in it? Yes, though they are both somewhere past #6.
What God do You Worship?
But plenty of people around the world say they believe in God. However, believing in “a god” is not the same as knowing “the true God” personally. To know God personally, you have to know the things that He has revealed about himself. Certainly God has revealed Himself through creation, but most religions also believe God has revealed Himself through their sacred writings.
As a Christian, I believe that God has revealed Himself in the Bible. You are free to disagree with me, that is your choice. But I would encourage you to at least read the Bible to see for yourself what it says, and then talk to a Christian to help you understand it.
If you are interested in exploring this more, I would encourage you to start in one books of the Bible labeled as a “gospel of Jesus Christ” (the word “gospel” means “good news”). There are four such books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Of these four, I think Mark and Luke are probably the easiest to understand. All four of them present details of the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
All four gospels, as well as most of the other books in the New Testament that follow them, present Jesus of Nazareth as the “Son of God” and “Son of Man” (and Jewish “Messiah“, which is what “Christ” means). These may be confusing words to you. Basically they mean that Jesus is both God and man, and that He is our anointed savior and supreme king over creation.
These books have been translated from their original languages into many different languages and many different versions. Perhaps the version that is best for people who are exploring Christianity is the “New International Version” (NIV). This version seeks to achieve a balance between readability and faithful adherence to the meaning of the original text.
I write this blog and make my YouTube videos chiefly because I enjoy doing those things. I enjoy mathematics and am thankful to God for giving me the opportunity and skills to share what I have learned. I pray that the blog and videos will help give you the interests and skills to make use of the talents that He has given to you too, and that you would ultimately give glory to God.