It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed. —Kin Hubbard
I have a friend who has a great story about depending on money. He shared it with our church once, and this is about how it went:
In 1982, I took a job in California. Being young and confident, my wife and I bought another house when we moved. Ten months into that particular stint, I was fired. Now, we had two house payments, and on top of that, our third child had just been born.
We were on the edge of declaring bankruptcy when family stepped in to help. The following months were incredibly difficult. It seemed like an endless string of sleepless nights as we begged God for help and tried to figure out what He was up to.
It took about fifteen years to get back on our feet. I ended up CEO of another company in a partnership. But we reached a point when God was prompting us, “It’s time to move on.” It was a hard decision, but we ended the partnership. Near the end of the deal, my attorney told me, “You need to be prepared to lose everything.” I thought, Really? Again?
That night, my wife was anxious to hear how the meeting had gone with the lawyer. I just said, “We need to be prepared to lose everything.” As those words tumbled out of my mouth, an enormous peace was driven into my heart. My wife took a deep breath; then she was okay with it, too. After 20 years of learning, we were finally at the point where we were ok with having nothing, because, in Christ, we had finally learned that we had everything.
What was different the second time around for my friend? He had discovered that perfect security is found in God. What they learned the hard way, we can learn by choice:
- Money can rob us.
- Money can confuse us.
- Money can rule us.
But in Christ we find security, clarity, and freedom in any and every circumstance.
God, thank You for Your perfect security that will never fail. Show me when I trust other things, and when I do, pull me back to Yourself! Amen.