Don’t we all think
we’d be happier if we had a newer, bigger, better house or car or job? Better backdrops for our highly staged,
self-promoting Instagram and Facebook posts. We define others and ourselves by the material things they
or we have. I was that person, and
if I’m honest, I still am. I
never agreed with the term “Money can’t buy happiness.” Okay.. But it sure makes life easier. Of course I’d be happier in a
bigger home and brand new car and a few trips somewhere south of the border. Isn’t that why every other show on TV
is giving away one of those things?
Because it makes people happy!
Isn’t that why that’s what floods our social media feeds? Yes, those things are exciting
blessings in our lives, but is that truly the reason we’re sharing them,
publicly? I wouldn’t call myself
materialistic, but I think that the generation that I’ve grown up in has
definitely affirmed the belief that “Money will absolutely buy happiness”. I don’t think it’s sinful to graciously
accept blessings of material comforts, but I do think it’s important to evaluate
the real cost and compromise of these
things. Jesus said, “I tell you
the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24)
Woah, last time I checked the size of a camel is not relevant to the
size of an eye of a needle. Most of the time I can't even get the thread through the eye of the needle. Let me
first say this, we are not rich, at least not by our society’s standards. We live in a modest three-bedroom
house, drive used cars, and have never been to Mexico. But I also know that by the world’s
standards, we are rich. We own a
home, with indoor plumbing, power at the flip of a switch and central air. We own two reliable vehicles that are
also equipped with air conditioning.
Our kids have so many toys that they have taken over every corner of
every room of our said house and cars.
So much stuff! Too much
stuff! I never realized just
how much is too much, or where I cross the line to where blessings become a
curse until Luke left us. In those
moments, I remember thinking I would’ve given everything I owned and anything I
would ever own on this earth, in this life to have my son back. I envisioned how grateful I’d be to
sleep on a cot in a homeless shelter to have Luke back. It didn’t seem right to me that my
son’s life wasn’t up for sale. We
live in a world where everything has a price. We are driven by the things of this world and not the
matters of the world to come. The
world where nothing has a price and everything has been paid in full. Think about this: Any other catastrophe
in life besides death we solve with money, because everything else ultimately
is replaceable. The fact that I
desperately thought it wasn’t fair to not be able to trade everything on this
earth for my son back in my arms revealed something about myself, my life, and
about my faith and trust in God.
It revealed how much I rely on myself to get through life and hardships,
in particular. I wanted to negotiate
the situation, as if God needs my petty earthly possessions. I needed to be in control and felt
entitled to the power over God to question His decision to call Luke home. But life and death are not up for sale,
because life and death have already been conquered and are free. When I finally sought God about this,
which I should’ve done to begin with, the truth became clear that bartering the outcome wasn’t
the answer – faith was. But isn’t
that the answer to everything? Why
am I so quick to answer my own call?
Why am I so eager to judge God’s plan for me? No amount of money or control could’ve changed this outcome
and it won’t change any future outcomes, but why does that still seem so
unfair? Because I haven’t humbled
myself enough to feel blessed that I am not in control. Because I ultimately haven’t accepted
that the same Almighty God who created the world and everything in it wants me
to remember to love Him most and first.
When I go to Heaven the only things I’ll take are my faith in Jesus and the grace God has given me.
Nothing else. Not my
purse, my phone, my jewelry, or even my most prized possessions – my kids and husband. We will meet them when they get there, but they’re not
coming with me. Doesn’t that sum
up how unimportant my material possessions are? It broke my heart when the nurse at the hospital gave us
back his pajamas – the ones I loved with the dinosaur feet – to take home with
us. I thought, What am I supposed to do with this now? When we came home to see all of his
toys and clothes and blankets were still in the same places, but he wasn’t. All Luke took with him was that
precious smile and God’s good grace; everything else belongs to this world. And if God truly loved these things as
we love these things as He loves us, would he not let us take them with us? What I’m learning about the “rich man”
Jesus spoke of is it’s important to differentiate between comforts God is
blessing us with and possessions we bless ourselves with, and then
consequently, the power those things hold over us. Just as in Ephesians 2 God has shown us “incomparable riches
of his grace” through Jesus, the world will show us incomparable riches of sin. I believe that anyone blessed with more
than riches of His mercy (everyone) is subject to being the rich man in the
parable. Even just life as we know
it in America gives our egos power and control and more pride and
self-righteousness than we know what to do with. Yes, it’s true.
Money could make you very happy.
But money also can be in the leading role in almost every sin we
commit. The more or less of
it we have the easier it becomes to fill our lives with things that distract us
from our Purpose. It’s most
important to strive for possessing a strong, fruitful faith at least in the same
way we strive for the other desires of our lives, because on that day even
Warren Buffett won’t be able to buy his way into Heaven; his G6 can’t fly to
God’s kingdom.
Whether I have a lot or a little on earth, I can choose to
freely accept the riches of His grace and mercy. I’m not going to lie, it’s much easier said than done, to
humble myself to give up the power and control. But I am reminded to surrender to God’s will and am
strengthened with reassurance every night when I hear my own children recite
the words “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
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