In the devotion that my very caring wife read for us this morning, our worldly possessions were compared to a stone, and I thought the analogy extremely well put. Our Lord has promised to supply His children with their daily needs, both in the material and in the spiritual, all we need to do is obey and follow, contrary to popular belief, there is no free ride.
Those who walked in the wilderness for forty years were given manna daily, we are not told, unless I missed something, where their daily need for water was supplied from for all those years, the manna was a gift, and after a while, when all we have is manna we will either become complacent and accept the gift grudgingly, or we will continue to give thanks each day, “Oh, great, manna again,” or “Thank you Lord for the manna.” It had to be difficult in the extreme for them to appreciate what was the normal each and every day, nothing new, some quail on top of that and that is life. I have of course wondered, as have many others I suppose have, about their herds and flocks, was there an occasional steak dinner, how well does fried chicken go with manna?
It is not always true that those who have little are more reverential and caring, more thankful for the little that they have, many of these become despondent, especially in the light of what their neighbors may own and those that they see on a day-to-day basis, that others have what they will more than likely never own. Some get manna, some get lobster and steak, and it is the wise man that understands that there is no difference between these two, both are gifts from the Lord, but when one is seen to be more of a burden, more of a stone than the other, then the blessings are looked at differently. Those who have little and have learned to be grateful for little, not begrudging either others or the Lord for their lack of material possessions, are indeed blessed, they seek a reward and wait patiently for that city not formed by human hands. (2nd Cor. 5:1) These have learned the true meaning of the word “content,” of course they have their moments, but in the entire scope of things, they have set their sights on the eternal, not the temporal.
I am afraid that this saying holds very little water though in the area of some Christians lives where plenty abounds, where food is always available just down the street, and that in great abundance, where water flows freely from the tap with just a turn of the faucet, where the conveniences of life are not just available outside the door and a few blocks down the street, or at the push of a button on the computer, but reside within their own dwelling places. The vehicle they drive must seat at least four, or better yet six, with plenty of room for the groceries or the luggage needed for vacation trips, the carpet is plush, the pillow is in no way comparable to the stones that Jacob used to rest his head upon that night. (Gen. 28:11) The possessions we call blessings of the Lord have become burdensome stones that we must carry everywhere we go, and in that way are truly no blessing at all.
Far too many who profess the Name of Christ today can see His blessings only as material possessions, those things that we hang around our neck, those stones that we revel and rest in. The nicest house with the finest accoutrements, every child must have their own bedroom, even if it takes them thirty plus years to pay for it, two, maybe three vehicles, one for just in case, the refrigerator larger than some individuals bathroom, the comfortable sofa, the list is endless, and their search for the next new addition of these “blessings” is just as endless. They will burden themselves with enormous debt, and call it the blessings from God, they will carry along with them everywhere they go stones enough to drag them down and impede their walk with Christ, and call them a blessing. They call the burdens of life, the stones of material possessions, the blessings of the Lord, and have lost themselves in the traps and corruption of the world.
There is of course nothing wrong with being wealthy, to those who have proven themselves to be faithful in a little, our Lord will bless with more, (Luke 19:17) but these are not the individuals that we are speaking of here. These people know full well that you cannot go into debt to get out of debt, and it is against the will of God in the first place to be in debt, (Prov. 22:7) but it goes well beyond that, for they know that whatever blessings that the Lord gives them here on earth, whatever of the material world He allows them to manage for Him are just that, God’s possessions, and great care must be taken with the things of the Lord. But, the main item that sets these individuals apart from the others is that, after of course a few moments of wondering, they can be just as content with little as much as they can be with much, their service to God is not hindered by the stones, or the lack of them.
Not so though with many who are professing Christ today, those who can only see the blessings of the Lord in the material, for when they are removed from them, the first word on their lips is “Why,” not “What would you have me to do now Lord.” This can be the problem with having possessions, no matter if they are great or small, Satan’s trick of making people see that “If God loved you, you would have,” has worked since day one, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5) Are we not gods because we possess and control, are we not better because we have those things of the world, doesn’t it make our life easier to have all of these stones around our neck, the more we have, the better we can serve, right?
This letter holds no value to the brother in Christ who is mature, he will serve the Lord in a blizzard or in a heated pool, in the middle of the hottest desert or in an air conditioned room, his surroundings are of no concern, what he “owns” is of no consequence to the limits of his service to the will of God. When he is without, he is without, when he has, he has, the things of the world that he has been blessed with are the Lords and he can say quite firmly with Job, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) This child of God knows that everything he has belongs to the Lord, and if he wants them back, he can take them back, it is Christ he serves, and the things of the world hold value only in the way that they can be of service to Christ. If he is blessed materialistically, then so be it, if not, so be it, thy will be done.
Your heart should not be attached to anything that can be considered a stone, you must set yourself, willingly, above them, they are of no consequence to the eternal, that is why they are called “earthly, worldly goods.” “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:2) These who are professing Christ but set their affections on the things of the world, that can see only the blessings of the Lord thru the acquiring, continued storing of and holding onto tightly the things that the world can offer them are deceiving themselves, and are easily deceived by the adversary into believing that these are the blessings of the Lord, when indeed they are nothing more than stones, heavy stones that are dragging them down and away from service to the Lord.
If the Lord has decided to bless you with much here in the material world, praise God, but do not set your affections upon them, be content but not arrogant or expecting. If He has determined that you are to remain poor in the things of the world, praise God, do not seek for more, but give glory to His name and ask Him how even the little that you have been given can be used to glorify His Name.
Job needed to lose everything before he could say in all honesty that the Lord God was all that he needed, if Christ decides to do the same for any of us, we are to bless His Name for doing so. If you give up all these things in your heart today, when and if He decides that the day must come for you to experience the same as your brother Job did, it will be that much easier. Perhaps our Lord will allow you to keep what you have, perhaps not, we will still have the most important thing ever, we will still have Christ, and He is all that any of us will ever need.
