Tuesday, May 11: Comfortable or comforted?

I got a call this morning from a man, whose three children used to take tennis lessons regularly. He lived in a big house in Laguna Beach, and had three other homes in town that he rented out. Additionally, he owned a yacht, and also had a vacation home in Mammoth Lakes. Today, he is moving out of his house, which is in foreclosure. All of the other homes either have been foreclosed or been sold in short sales. Could he have made better financial decisions for his family? Certainly, but none of us ever are perfect in that regard. In hindsight, he told me that he would have bought one house and paid for it entirely, before investing in others. There were just too many eggs in one basket, and when the eggs started to fall, the basket lost balance and all of the eggs fell out and broke. My heart goes out to this man, and his family. Though in the past, they seemingly had it all, they didn’t have God. It’s difficult to give it all to the Lord when you feel you are able to give yourself all you desire with your own power.


Ask an exceedingly wealthy person about their status and they will usually tell you that they are “comfortable,” for they are comparing themselves to the richest of the rich. The oil barons of the Middle East certainly have more. We lose sight of what it really means to be poor, and for that matter, what it really means to be rich. Poor isn’t driving around in a new SUV. Poor isn’t owning your own home, regardless of the size. Poor isn’t curbing your spending habits to eating out no more than once a week. Poor isn’t a closet filled with designer clothes. Poor is when each meal becomes a challenge, keeping any roof over your head is a blessing and your clothing is a pair of jeans that you wash a few times a week to keep clean. Yet, why is it that there are more poor people following the Lord than rich people?


24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For 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.”
Luke 18:24-25


When you attribute your earthly possessions to your own talents, your own decisions and your own intelligence, you are sidestepping the One who gave you everything! Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Poor in spirit” is a term that goes hand in hand with humbleness. It is giving God the glory for all He has given you, rather than taking credit for any of it yourself! What would God have you do with your 6,000 square foot home? Fill it with the best of the best, or would He rather you help people in need? That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t bless His people, but do His people bless Him by helping others, or bless themselves, by desiring more? Do you really need a luxury car?


“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the LORD’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
Isaiah 40:1-2


When Jesus came, He comforted the people, giving them rest from their burdens. On the cross, He shouldered each of our sin burdens, and then left us with His Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to be with us every moment. Do we really need anything else? When we look around and see the economic hardships of a majority of the people around the world, trust that God is giving them that opportunity to come to the end of themselves, the end of the place where they believe they can do it on their own. Pray for a harvest of new believers in the world! The time is right! And in the meantime, thank Him for all that He has given you!