“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21; Luke 12:34, KJV).
HIS BIBLE QUOTATION HAS FREQUENTLY COME TO MIND DURING the recent financial crisis, whose tentacles have spread not only throughout the United States but virtually around the globe. Together with millions of others I have watched the stock market reach all-time lows and wondered whether my retirement portfolio will be worth the paper it’s printed on when I step out of my office cubicle for the last time. With pundits such as financial historian Niall Ferguson calling it “the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression,” I’ve begun to question whether my husband and I will ever realize our dream of a small home in the country, where we can sit on our back deck and delight in the wildlife that visit our property.
The answer is:―I can’t be sure. But what I am sure about is that we can trust God to see us through anything. No matter how chaotic the world becomes or how much or how little money we have in the bank, God is in control. And ultimately, all the material possessions we harbor will someday be destroyed, and only our characters will survive in the world made new.
In contemplating the hold material possessions may have on me, I have also asked myself: “If I were to lose everything I own, what would I miss the most?” According to Newsday.com, for Paris Hilton it would be her BlackBerry smartphone. “It’s like the most painful thing ever,” she said, describing her smartphone being confiscated when she was taken to jail.
Is that what she treasures most? Is that where her heart is? Are our hearts caught up in things more worthwhile?
Think about it. The answer may not be “Yes.”
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Sandra Blackmer is an assistant editor of the Adventist Review.
