Of Possessions and White Knuckles

This summer has been marked by a series of goodbyes for our family. Several dear friends have picked up roots and moved across the country. Others are soon to move to another continent. Many hearts are heavy from the pain of separation.

Not exactly the most cheery way to start an article, I know! But I wanted to give some background for a few lessons the Lord has patiently been teaching me over the past couple weeks.

I never thought of myself as an particularly possessive person. So when the Lord began to reveal to me that I was holding onto "things" too tightly, I almost laughed out loud.

"Me, Lord? But that's silly! You know that money means nothing to me!"

Well, guess what.

He wasn't talking about money.

No sirree.

Money isn't the only form of possession, as I later reluctantly pointed out to myself. How about friends? Family? Loved-ones in general? These were the "things" I was keeping a death grip on.

Ouch.

Soon, those verses on leaving all to follow Christ, the very thing I thought I'd never have trouble with, were pressing on my mind. If I was keeping a firm hold on things, how was I to keep a firm hold on Christ? The only option is to let go of one to gain the other.

In her book, "Lies Women Believe", Nancy Leigh DeMoss addresses the following subtle lie that few of us would care to admit to: God is not really enough. She says,

"When it comes down to it, we don't believe that God's word is truly sufficient to deal with our problems...I need God's word plus these eight books from the Christian bookstore; I need God's word plus tapes and conferences and counselors. Sure I need God. But I need Him plus close friends; I need Him plus good health; I need Him plus a husband; I need Him plus children; I need Him plus a job that pays enough; I need Him plus a house with a microwave, a washer/drier, a garage, a fresh paint job..."

When I was hanging on to people for dear life, wasn't I more or less saying that God wasn't enough? And when a Christian says that God isn't enough, what sort of testimony is that to a watching world? This exert from John Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life" seems to go hand in hand with what we just heard from Nancy Leigh DeMoss:

"Why Don't People Ask Us About Our Hope?

There is no doubt if we lived more like this [like Christ is more precious then life], the world would be more likely to consider whether Jesus is an all-satisfying Treasure. He would look like one. When was the last time someone asked you about "the reason for the hope that is in you"? That's what Peter said we should always be ready to give an answer for: "Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15) Why don't people ask us about our hope? The answer is probably that we look as if we hope in the same things they do. Our lives don't look like they are on the Calvary road, stripped down for sacrificial love, serving others with the sweet assurance that we don't need to be rewarded in this life... If we believed this more deeply, others might see the worth of God and find in Him their gladness."

Double ouch. When we look to anything other than Christ for our joy and satisfaction, we are not making much of Christ. Not only are we not making much of Christ, we are actually making Him look cheap, like something that might keep us out of hell in the end. How could we bear to make our precious Savior look this way?

As I've discovered this summer, releasing a grip on people I love very much is painful. But to whom, or more accurately, Whom, am I releasing them? Only to a heavenly Father who loves us so very deeply, He sent His only Son to save us from eternal damnation. Wow. When was the last time you allowed that truth to really sink in?

My times are in Thy hand;

My God, I wish them there;

My life, my friends, my soul, I leave

Entirely to Thy care.

My times are in Thy hand;

Why should I doubt or fear?

My Father's hand will never cause

His child a needless tear

~William F. Lloyd

posted by Lydia