Do you have a “way out?

Do you have a “way out?

Jim was happily married with young kids.  One day he came into an inheritance of $600,000.  You would have thought that would have brought some security to Jim and his family, but instead, Jim had months of stress and sleepless nights.  

Jim couldn’t sleep because he couldn’t figure out how he could keep the $600,000 if he and his wife divorced!

This is a true story I read in a finance magazine a few years ago.

Jim genuinely loved his wife and kids and was committed to them, but this desire for a “way out” would keep Jim from ever being 100% committed to his wife and make it easier to leave if things didn’t go the way he thought they should.

How many of us live our lives in this way?  How many of us unsuspectingly model this lifestyle for our kids in their relationship with God.

“Go to church but make sure you get a good education and a good job.  Then serve God.”

“We love that you serve God, but you need to get a summer job, you can’t go on a mission trip.”

“We go to church every Sunday, as long as you don’t have a hockey game.”

“I know you want to go to the church’s mid-week program but that’s when you have piano lessons.”

“We can’t give to that need because we’re saving up to go to Hawaii.”

Unwittingly, what we are saying is, “Follow the Lord as long as it doesn’t affect your future.”  

This last thought just poured some cold water on my face.  Did it splash a little on yours?

In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

Financial needs are real, but do we truly trust the Lord as our provider?

If we love the Lord with a “way out” on the backburner, we’ll only love Him when we’re comfortable.  And if we model that for our kids how will they learn to live any differently?

Let’s have one bank account, and let’s let the Lord be the keeper of it.

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