What Does One Have To Do With The Other?

Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.  Hebrews 13:5

 These two separate concepts are familiar to me.  Being free from the love of money and God never leaving nor forsaking us.  But why are they connected here?  How does the comfort of God never leaving me enable me to be satisfied with what I have?

The answer is not given in this text.  It’s the kind of dilemma I love – finding connections and trails – working out the mysteries of the kingdom.  I’ve been pondering this for a day and a half now.  I woke up early and God showed me how it applies to my own heart.  Perhaps yours as well.

I asked myself these questions.  Why am I drawn to money?  Why do I feel good when I have stuff and deprived when I don’t?  It’s because material things provide a kind of significance and security.  They fill an emptiness inside, at least temporarily, until I feel I must have more to stay full. The problem is ~ the emptiness is there to be satiated by God, not money.   And because God promises to never leave me, the void that feels so threatening never need stare me in the face.  Jesus completes me.  His love fills up my soul.  I feel rich beyond measure and the need to accumulate what are mere trinkets (according to C.S. Lewis) is put into perspective.

What did this message mean to the Jewish people who received it?  They were literally losing everything under the oppressive boots of persecution.  Homes were destroyed or confiscated.  Food was scarce. Provisions were not certainties but luxuries.  As they watched their material world dissipate, this message of hope hit them hard.  They may be wanting in this world but Christ will always be with them, filling them up with Himself.  He is the treasure that addressed their wants and with their eyes on Him, they could live in plenty, or in want, and not be shaken.

Whether we sit in palaces or in a 900 square foot apartment, our souls can be filled.  The poor who have Jesus can perfectly fellowship with the rich who have Jesus.  Our eyes are not on bank accounts but on the eternal treasures of which Jesus is supreme.

Food and shelter, even beautiful things.  I, once again, put it in perspective. Amen