SecureSample

Our Misplaced Security

It was 20 years after we had gone through the disaster of the loss of my job. God had finally brought us out of that wilderness, and we had fully recovered.

But now my wife and I sat over dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant with the situation feeling eerily the same. We were both a bit stunned as I had just come from the attorney’s office where I had been in long, arduous meetings trying to negotiate the appropriate end to a business relationship.

Before I left the attorney’s office he looked at me and said, “Rick, you and Judi need to be prepared to lose everything.” And now I was breaking the news to my wife.

Then something happened that neither Judi nor I ever expected or have since been able to explain. An enormous and unspeakable peace came over both of us. God gently brought us to the realization that He alone is the only truly secure thing we have in life.

As I thought about it later, I realized that money is an amazingly powerful force in our lives – indeed, much greater than we are often willing to admit. Our money and our hearts are tethered together with an unbreakable cord. Jesus said it so powerfully… “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So if our priority is to build a bigger and better portfolio, or accumulate possessions – giving the here-and-now priority over the eternal – then our hearts cannot fully follow God. And the security we seek will only be as certain as the uncertainty of our wealth.

This is a very real danger for us as Christians, even as serious followers of Christ. It is so easy to fall for the seduction of the Evil One and allow our hearts to be given to money above God: to allow our lives to be driven more by consumerism than by genuine, biblical stewardship. More on that coming up!