John C. Kwasny
April 24, 2020
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
We are inching closer to being able to re-open some businesses, having more movement in society, and getting our economy going in the right direction again. I know we all wish that day would come sooner than later--especially for all who are unemployed or are losing significant income as business owners. One of the most disgusting political ploys during this pandemic has been the irrational pitting of those who “love money” against those who “love people.” It goes something like this: If you are in some way concerned about the economy, then you don’t care that people are dying from Covid-19. This effort has created a warped either/or: it’s either the economy, or it’s public health. We’re being told that if we truly loved people we wouldn’t even care how long we have to do without money to provide for our families. Now, hopefully, you can see through this illogic and know that you can actually be FOR people living AND FOR people making a living. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. We need to protect human lives AND we need the engine of the economy to start humming along again.
Yet, in a time when all of our incomes have been impacted to a small, medium, or even large certain extent, it is important to examine our hearts to see if we are, in fact, driven by the love of money. No, you may not be an Ebenezer Scrooge; but, have you found yourself fearful and anxious as your savings has dipped or your income has fallen? Have you had to give up some creature comforts that have caused a bit of sadness or even depression? It would do us good to remember what the writer of the Hebrews says: that the opposite of the love of money is the dreaded word, “contentment.” Be honest, you don’t like that word either, do you? Sure, we all want contentment in our lives, but to actually, actively BE CONTENT is another matter. We are, by nature, discontented beings. It takes the work of the Spirit in our lives to find that secret of daily contentment. Unfortunately, we only learn if we are truly content when we are in the midst of trying times--like the present!
But don’t miss HOW the Spirit produces contentment in our hearts: It happens when we put our confidence in God alone. Now, I don’t know about you, but I often put my “money-making” confidence in my own skill, giftedness, employability, and overall ability! But God’s Word calls on us not to be more self-confident, but increasingly God-confident. Look at Hebrews 13:5-6 again. The author declares that we can truly be content because God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Let those words sink in and wash over your mind. What an amazing truth! Then, he doubles down and says, “So we can CONFIDENTLY say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Would it be wrong to add, “what can the coronavirus do to me?”) The truth is, the level of our contentment tells us where our confidence really lies. Only when we are confident that the Lord is our greatest helper, and that He will never leave us or forsake us, will we be able to grow in Godly contentment through this time!