Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul— and men praise you when you do well for yourself— he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light. A man who had riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.
Psalm 49:16-20(emphasis added)

Money, money, money. MONEY! From songs to shows, oh how it is held up. And for good reason in the world. The world runs on money. Eating, living, working, it’s all money. It’s a cycle unlike any other. Work to get money, use money to get food and shelter but also entertainment that is saturated in the idea that you need stuff, so you buy stuff on credit and need to work to pay off the debt, which means you can buy more, which means you need to work. Whew. Work to buy to work to buy. And that is the best case. Common case is work and work to get enough to squeak by while semi-starving and feeling the lack of all you don’t have and then work more to squeak by again. The worst case is either working your butt off or unable to work and still not getting by. Not making ends meet. Facing choices like eating or paying bills. It’s a vicious cycle no matter where on the spectrum you are. Everyone loves either the things money buys or the freedom to whatever they want to do or simply the release of tension from having just enough to get by. So they do it again. And again. And again. Caught in the fear of what if I don’t have.

Money can be a wonderful, amazing tool. Opening doors to travel, education, full bellies, opportunities, and all the things we’re told are finest. Money can also be a cold, hard, terrible barrier to having your children fed, clothed, and under a warm roof – or yourself for that matter. Some of us love it and some of us hate it. Many of the evils of the world revolve around money. When we love the money as a thing, we have trouble loving the Lord. The money becomes our Lord. It’s fine to appreciate it. But it can’t have a hold on us. When it gets the hold on us, it is a terrible thing.

Sometimes we can get trapped by the things it can buy us. Sometimes we get trapped by the things it saved us from. Sometimes we get trapped by the security we feel we have. But in the end, the trouble is that we have put our own value on things and we are refusing to acknowledge the value the Lord puts on things. When money becomes that important to us, it is an anchor bringing us down. And it is all temporary. “But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish” (Psalm 49:2).

But we just can’t seem to ‘get it’. We have to place an arbitrary value on everything. Everything is labelled, weighed, and then a dollar value is placed on it. We’ve even started putting values on things that have no real substance. We’re literally creating money from nothing. It’s a crazy system. And I’m not debating capitalism vs socialism vs any other -ism. I’m looking at the base values of money itself. What really is it good for? What benefit does it bring us? It is totally arbitrary. It’s mankind saying what mankind feels the value of any given thing is. Everything being compared to everything else. And it seems the only real reason for it is so that we can amass things to be able to say: I have succeeded. I have value. I have worth. I am rich. I have success. I have achieved. But it is all just smoke and mirrors.

“There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm” (Ecclesiastes 5:13). Wealth in and of itself is not evil. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having thousands, millions, or billions of dollars. Why would there be? Money is the least important thing in the Kingdom of God. It has the lowest and least value. The problem is how you view all of that money. Whether you have five dollars in your pocket or five million in your bank. If you’re not willing to give it away, then it has you and you don’t have it. The Kingdom of God is about blessing (Philippians 4:19). Serving others (Galatians 5:13-14). Giving away what we have (2 Corinthians 8:7). Not keeping the best portions for ourselves (Matthew 6:19-21). Do you see a theme? No matter what teaching is coming from the Lord, part of that teaching is about giving. Not storing up for the sake of storing up. “He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?” (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11).

No, we are called into freedom. Out of bondage. Out of slavery. Out of the cycle of stuff. “Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.” So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”” (Hebrews 13:5-6). Money has no hold on us if we don’t give it one. Money has to value in and of itself. It’s just a tool. I am never worried about money. I don’t care what something costs. If I need it, it will be given to me. Why? God meets all my needs. Remember Philippians 4:19? “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” There is a lot of glory in heaven. Materially, it has streets of gold. Gates of pearl. The Lord isn’t strapped for cash. And neither should we be.

We should focus on the Lord. Loving and serving Him. The rest comes our way (Matthew 6:33). More than that, the Lord uses the systems of the world to OUR advantage: “For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God” (Ecclesiastes 2:26). Wealth transfer from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of Light. It’s a real thing. But it doesn’t mean we get all we ask for because God isn’t going to give you something that will be a burden to you (James 4:3). He won’t be part of putting a hook in your flesh or a stumbling block before your feet. God doesn’t want the negative for anyone.

It takes some adjustment of thinking. We always look at bank accounts. At what we have. At what we can get together. But if you love God and seek Him diligently, you’ll have everything you need. Period. It’s a promise. If you need it, it will arrive whether you have the money for it or not. The Lord blesses us, but doesn’t promise us wants. The Lord promises us our needs met, and blesses on top of that. Not our list of blessing. His list of blessing. His list is better than our list. Not only are His things better, but He knows what you like. He wants you to have it. To enjoy it. If we don’t get in the way, we get it. How do we stay out of the way? We seek Him and pay attention to our spirit health. We seek Him and listen for what He wants. We accept blessings, possessions, and even money; but are ever ready to hand it ALL over at a moment’s notice. We own nothing. In the Kingdom of God there is NO OWNERSHIP. What we do is steward for the Lord. We are stewards of what God has given us. If it isn’t ours, why would we hesitate to give it away? Anytime something goes out of us, something returns. And the return is never less than what went out. God is a God of growth. His people are people of expansion. In Him, all richness abides.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4). We are on the mind of God Almighty. He will not leave us hanging. We will not be abandoned to poverty and lack. Not if we have Him on our minds. “This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear (reverence) God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). Our commandments are to love God first and foremost, and then to love one another as Jesus loves us (Matthew 22:34-40). And what do we get? Relief from money. Relief from want. And the Blessings of heaven. Jesus promised.

““Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient” (Matthew 6:31-34).

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Hebrews 13:1-8

The love of money is the worst thing we can get caught in. At the end of your life — ultimately the end of the world — what is that money good for? You have valued things on earth. Mortal, temporal things. When you die, what good has it done? You may have had the finest of all the fine things, but you’re in the same boat as the pauper who had nothing at all and suffered from all the diseases that strike the poor. You may get things here, but if you have nothing stored in God’s Kingdom, when you die you will have nothing. But God loves us, so Jesus is with us always. He is beside us for us to talk to and work things out with— if we’ll listen to Him. And though there is an inescapable press toward progress and we are bombarded with a deluge of things to buy/sell/do, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can serve a good God with good service because by Grace through Faith, Jesus gives us the tools to do it. The simple love of God for us and of us to God. We get there through praise and we get there through believing the Word of the Lord. He is good and His mercy endures forever.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.