We’ve all experienced times when our spiritual mood was being determined by our material inventory.
I’m talking about those times when we slip into a measure of discouragement, perhaps even despair, after a highly valued possession is stolen away by theft or by accident or malice of another.
I’m talking about those times when a business fails or a costly investment fails or a “gotta have it” bank account is nearly empty.
Is it easy to be spiritually upbeat at such times? Not if we’re looking at what we’ve lost.
It would be crazy for me to piously lecture you about keeping proper priorities in life while at the same time hiding the fact that I’ve struggled with disappointment during times of disappearing wealth.
I’ve not reached the point of despair, thankfully, during times when bank balances kept dropping lower and lower. I don’t take credit for being Mr. Spiritual Tough Guy, though.
Instead, I give credit to the sustaining grace and encouragement flowing from God.
I thank God for helping me to remember that all the wealth in the world is worthless compared to the promise of living in heaven forever.
In the midst of a prophetic book of judgment upon rebellious Old Testament Israelites, God placed a lovely, encouraging passage that spoke to my heart this morning and I pray that it speaks to yours.
We believers really do have something more valuable than all the material riches of the world — the promise of eternal life in heaven.
“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty,
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.” (Habukkuk 3:17-19)
Please join me in rejecting the “Woe is me” thinking the next time you see that your financial status is less than it was, or will soon be. And please encourage other believers to embrace this same promise so that they’ll realize that the God who loves them has the most amazing eternal retirement program in the universe.
As always, I love you
Martin
