Do not put your hope in wealth

I Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV)

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

It seems rare, very rare, that a very wealthy person is humble.  Oh, yes, there are exceptions, but on the whole, those who are rich tend to be arrogant.  Arrogance is basically self-sufficiency, self-dependency, and self-elevation (pride).  Such arrogance puts too much hope in wealth, and, as has been learned in the past year with so much economical downfall, such hope is uncertain and outright false.

Note the contrast about where to put your hope………not in wealth, but in God.  Indeed, hope in wealth contradicts and undermines hope (trust) in God.  Recall what Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24).

I once visited Eastern Star Baptist church in Indianapolis where I heard its pastor, Jeffrey Johnson, criticize his congregation like this (and I’m paraphrasing):  “I see your six figure homes, your new cars, your fancy clothes, the nice vacations you take, all the other nice things you have, and then I see you put a couple of dollars in the collection plate!”  He was blunt, but he was right.  His congregation, typical of most congregations, had put more hope in their materialism than in God.       

As has been emphasized many times, converting your hope in things to hope in God can be done only by accepting the fact that all your wealth comes from God.  (II Corinthians 8:15).  He richly provides you with all things to be enjoyed.

  

Besides the command to convert where to put your hope, this passage also has the command to “be rich in good deeds”.  The outcome of genuine faith is to be generous with the material wealth God has given you.  The rich are to assume a healthy attitude of detachment toward your wealth and to use it to help others.  The result of this attitude and action has eternal implications.  Paul applies the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6:20.  Your generosity stores treasures in heaven that is a firm foundation for the coming age.  That is, you are securing your future hope in eternity where you are exchanging the temporal material wealth of this life for the spiritual wealth of your eternal life.  

How does this passage challenge you?  What one change can you make?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

NOTE:  I've posted this meditation before, but well worth posting again and again!!

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. 

Proverbs 3 contains 17 promises of God that we all should realize.  Joshua 23:14 says that all promises (good words) of God will come true, none will fail.  Read over this chapter today and reflect on all these promises.  And share them with your children, grandchildren, and others you feel close to.  Proverbs 3 is one of the most remarkable and magnificent chapters of the entire Bible!  In the first six verses of Proverbs 3 there are three outstanding promises---a long life filled with peace, a life that is liked and respected by all others including God, and a life that is directly guided by the Lord.  I have always wished that I was made aware of Proverbs 3 and all its promises when I was a youth rather than learning them when I was well into my thirties.  My life would be different today.   

If there are two verses in the Bible that I have quoted to myself, to others and prayed about more than any other two verses, they are Proverbs 3:5-6.  There are four absolutely amazing truths in these two verses that I must remind myself about as much as possible for the rest of my life and you should too. 

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.  Trust in the original Hebrew is the idea of throwing yourself down, casting all your hopes for the present and the future upon the Lord.  Heart is used throughout the Old Testament to refer to that part of you that constitutes the seat of your intellect, emotion, and will.  It’s your conscience, your personality, your soul.  Trusting the Lord with all your heart means that you confidently expect that He will do what He promises. You are not left to doubt, to hope, or to guess; you have a positive trust that brings positive results.

Do not lean on your own understanding

The Hebrew word for “lean” means to support yourself.  However, you are NOT to support yourself, you are not to worry about attempting to explain what is happening in your life.  To follow this command means that you are to be humble and honest about your limitations. Have you ever had to walk with a crutch?  Leaning on a crutch for very long can be exhausting.  So is leaning on your own understanding.  Trying to understand life around you can become utterly exhausting.  Depression in life comes from trying to understand everything you can, but realizing you cannot.  But, you don’t need to!

In all your ways acknowledge Him

Rather than leaning on the manmade crutch of your devices, you are exhorted to recognize God’s presence and His will in your plight.  Acknowledging Him enables you not to be alone.  Note the emphasis on the word “all” both here and trusting with all of your heart.  God does not accept half way attitudes and actions.  If your heart is “half-hearted” about serving God, about being faithful, about anything that is spiritual, in the view of God, you might as well consider yourself at ground zero.  There is no middle ground.  To agree to acknowledge Him in all your ways requires your obedience and your willingness to admit to others openly of your dependence on Him. 

And He will make your paths straight

The Hebrew word means to make smooth, straight, right.  It includes the idea of removing obstacles that are in the way.  It means that when the Lord is fully relied upon to handle a given situation, He will remove all the obstacles and smooth out your path thoroughly.  The requirements here are being obedient to the first three segments. When you trust in the Lord with all of your heart, when you don’t worry about trying to explain what’s happening (or not happening), and when you acknowledge Him in every aspect of your life, He will not only make your paths straight but also give you assurance, joy, contentment and peace. 

Billy Graham has told the story of a man during the Depression who lost his job, his fortune, his wife, and his home.  Yet, he did not give up on God.  He tenaciously held on to his faith.  One day he was walking and saw some men doing stonework on a huge church.  One of them was chiseling a triangular stone and this man asked why.  The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire?  Well, I’m shaping this down here so that it will fit in up there.”  This man walked away and began to cry.  He realized that God had spoken to him through the workman to explain the ordeal that he was going through.  “I’m shaping you down there so that you’ll fit in up here.”  This is exactly what God is doing with you and using your current life’s situations to accomplish His ultimate purpose in you. 

You must learn to trust Him as He is shaping you through the trials, sufferings, and storms in your life.  You won’t understand it all now, but someday you will plus by doing all you can to put Him first in your life, you have the promise that He will be in control of your life and make your paths straight.  Pray for faith to believe this.  As the father said in Mark 9:24, “I believe, help me in my unbelief”.  This could be one of your favorite verses of the Bible.  Ask Him to help you to believe and to trust Him. 

Biblical description of wickedness

Psalm 36:1-4 (NLT)

Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts.  They have no fear of God at all.  In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are.  Everything they say is crooked and deceitful.  They refuse to act wisely or do good.  They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots.  Their actions are never good.  They make no attempt to turn from evil. 

Have you ever heard or seen the term “Christian Atheist”?  Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?  The Christian Atheist is a person who says he/she believes in God, but has no fear of Him.  Note the second sentence of the above verses.  The Christian Atheist says that he/she believes in Christ, but lives his/her life as if He doesn’t exist.  II Timothy 3:5 says that in the last days of life on earth as we know it, people will have a form of godliness but deny its power.  Far too many Christian people are the same kind of hypocrites as the Pharisees were in Jesus’ day.  People profess belief in God through Christ, but don’t act like the Bible teaches they should.  Such people will freely pray for God to help them with this or that, but when God says something that they should do through His written (Bible) and spoken (sermons, lessons) Word, they conveniently ignore such commands.  Christian Atheists deceive themselves, thinking that they are godly and holy and committed to Christ when in actuality they are far from it.  The words of Christ in Matthew 7:21-23 come to mind loud and clear here----you think that you served Him and lived your life as He wanted you to, but in final judgment He will say to you, “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”. 

We pray for God to answer our prayers, but in His Word when He says that I am to share my faith with others as a Christian witness, I know that I do not do enough of that.  I don’t think that many Christians witness nearly enough, we are afraid of the negative reactions we will receive, yet does that excuse me from doing what I know God wants me to do as he commands all Christian people to do?  If I feel that I do not have to witness to others and not do other acts of service and ministry that God’s Word teaches that I should do, then I have no fear of Him at all.  Well, I do have fear (reverence/awe) of Him and I know that I need to change my ways.  I hope that you reading this will feel convicted too if need be, either about the need to witness more or to do something you know that God is calling you to do. 

Psalm 36:1 says that “sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts”.  The word “whispers” is an interesting translation of the original Hebrew word that simply means “declares” or “utters”.  How does sin whisper to people, even Christian people, deep within their hearts?  Here are some examples of the power of deception that sin produces in our hearts that falsely enables us to justify our sins:

·  “It’s OK to sin because God will forgive afterwards anyway”.

·  “Look at all the good things you do, so it’s OK to do this one little sinful thing”.

·  “I see others do this, so it must be OK for me to do it too”. 

·  “God made me this way so I cannot help it”.

·  “I feel justified in doing what I’m doing because I’ve been hurt by (someone else)”.

·  “Hey, I’m not perfect, even the Bible says so……”.

These kinds of excuses---and many others---indicate how blindly conceited we can become.  Of course, some people, because of the faith they have, can limit how much sin they do, but others, especially the Christian Atheist, will proceed exactly as these verses say---saying things that are crooked and deceitful, refusing to change and act wisely, being dominated by sin and making no effort to turn away from evil.  Examine yourself, your thoughts, your attitudes, your ways, your actions, your words, everything----do these verses describe you?  Might you be a Christian Atheist?   Can you face up to this reality or will you continue to live your life in self-deceit and continue to allow sin to whisper to you, deep within your heart?  You will be able to deceive others and you can deceive yourself, but you cannot deceive the Lord and someday you will pay the awful price (“depart from Me, I never knew you”) if you don’t change right now. 

May these words of God sink deeply within your heart, like a sword piercing the division of soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12), and cause you to change, to overcome the sin and its deceit that’s dwelling deep in your heart and replacing it a renewed rededication of a life filled with the Holy Spirit. 

“Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther than the loudest call to duty.” -- Earl Wilson

Be ready to defend and explain your faith

I Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)

And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.

Have you ever been asked, perhaps challenged by someone trying to embarrass you or refute your belief, to explain why you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior (your Christian hope)?  Maybe some of you have been confronted many times. I have been asked to explain my faith only a few times.  However, whether many times or just a few, each of us must be prepared to give an answer in a convincing manner why we believe what we believe.

Have you ever seen the movie “Inherit the Wind”?  It tells the story of the Scopes “Monkey Trial”, one of the most famous battles in history between evolution and creationism. In 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, public schoolteacher John Scopes was taken to court for teaching evolution, which had earlier been banned by the state of Tennessee. The ensuing court battle pitted two famous men at the time as defense and prosecutor lawyers.  The defense lawyer was William Jennings Bryan, a former Democratic presidential candidate.  The prosecuting lawyer was Clarence Darrow.  The movie depicts Bryan as a fundamentalist Christian with blind faith who cannot answer basic questions logically about his faith.  The movie puts Christianity in a bad light because of the bumbling failures of Mr. Bryan to defend adequately why he believed what he believed.  Sadly, Bryan’s failures depict the status of the majority of Christians today who also cannot defend why they believe what they believe.  

How can you be prepared to respond to someone who asks you why you believe in Jesus as your Savior, especially when that someone is challenging why you believe?  Sooner or later, if you are being a faithful witness about your faith (others in your life know clearly that you are a Christian), you will be strongly challenged to defend why you are a Christian, why you believe the way you do.  Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior typically have these characteristics:

·  Do not believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

·  Do not believe that Christ died a substitutionary death on the cross for the man's sins 

·  Do not believe that mankind is morally corrupt and sinful.

·  Do not believe that God is sovereign

·  View God in some false way, not the way God is taught in the Bible

So you need to be prepared to respond to questions related to these characteristics of the non-believer. 

Did you know that if you are a Christian, it is your duty to be an apologist? The term “apologist” or “apologetics” refers to the reasoned defense of the Christian faith.  This is what I Peter 3:15 is saying.  In fact, the word “explain” (or other translations use the phrase “make a defense”) comes from the Greek word “apologia”.  The Word here is saying that you need to be ready to defend your faith, to give rational and reasoned explanations to doubters about why you believe they way you do and why you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

You need not only to be ready to defend your faith, but also you need to know what you are defending and be comfortable with your position.  Examples of how Paul did this are found in Acts 14, 17, and 19.  Note that he reasoned with doubters and critics because he knew his Bible (the Old Testament).  For you today, the main key in defending your faith is that you must know your Bible, at least to some extent.  You must have solid knowledge of the faith you profess.  It’s also a good idea to have some knowledge about other religions.  For example have you ever interacted with a Mormon or a Jew or someone of another religion who not only could clear articulate what their beliefs were, but also knew the basics of Christianity?  You can be made to look really bad if you are not equally prepared.

The best way to be prepared to defend your faith, especially against someone who thinks that you’ve been ‘brainwashed’ or you are not being intellectual or you are being a ‘prude’, is to declare that you simply believe that you were a sinner, but Christ died for your sins, you believe that this is true and that His Spirit lives in you because you confessed your sinful nature and gave your life over to His authority.  Your basic defense is the gospel and your story in describing what the gospel has done to change your life.  A few basic Bible verses memorized—the famous ones like John 3:16 and John 14:6 go a long way in helping you defend your faith. 

In your defense of your beliefs, I Peter 3:16 also says that you should be gentle and respectful.  You do not need to get into a shouting match.  You should not put down others for what they believe or don’t believe.  You should be calm, cool, and collected in your demeanor where it is obvious that your faith is strong and deep and allow others to see that your actions back up your words.  Perhaps our church and all other churches of those reading this devotional should periodically teach their flocks how to defend the basics of their faith.