It might seem odd, but I’ve lately been thinking about insurance. This is not one of those topics any of us like to really talk about. We have to have insurance for many facets of our lives. We insure our dwelling place, whether its an apartment, condominium, or house. We insure our vehicles. We insure our health. We insure our vacations. We even take out insurance on our lives. These are areas where it just seems prudent to have insurance. Some of these areas are considered optional, and some are required. Any time we are making payments on a mortgage or an automobile loan, we are required to carry insurance. The lender requires this to protect their interests. In regard to vehicle insurance, the state requires we carry a certain level of insurance in order to protect the other motorists in case of an accident.
You could say, insurance plays a huge role in our lives. Without insurance we are subject to catastrophic loss should some accident occur.
Here’s the thing that gripes me about insurance though, you have to have or experience a loss for you to reap the benefit of having paid the premiums. In other words, you really have to have something awful happen to make sense out of making all those premium payments! What can you do? You simply cannot be uninsured, its too risky.
A good friend of mine lives in one of those states where insurance premiums are astronomically high. In renewing auto insurance, he’s been hit with a large increaase, and he’s had no claims. His homeowner’s insurance is the same scenario. Huge premiums. Its all related to where he lives. In our conversation, again the question pops up, what can you do? All you can do is shop around and hope for the best, but in the end you pay now, in order to be covered and have peace of mind.
Insurance has to do with material possessions. It covers us against any losses that might occur. Even when it comes to life insurance, it covers our families should we die and our income for their wherewithal is no longer there. I could even quote you a couple of bibilcal passages which seem to allude to it being our responsibility to be insured. 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Proverbs 13;32 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.”
Enough about the insuring of those things which we possess materially, what about our spiritual lives? Do we give any consideration to how we provide there? To experience a loss in our spiritual lives would be much worse than a material loss. For faith is what is present to sustain us when the storms of life come upon us.
This is my plug for attending church. Its like paying premiums on insurance. We may not feel like we’re getting anything out of attending every Sunday. What we’re doing though, is building up a store of spiritual enrichment. The songs we hear and sing, the scriptures that are read and expounded on, the prayers that are uttered, they all go to reinforce our spiritual wellbeig. It may not always seem like we are getting something out of church, but our spirit is hearing, feeling, experiencing what will serve us in the long term. I cannot tell you the times when I’m going through something, that a scripture, a line from a hymn, a phrase I heard someone pray, has simply appeared before me. My mind has internalized what I’ve heard and it comes back to me at just the time I need it.
I think in spiritual terms we wouldn’t so much call it insurance, instead we would know it as assurance. That’s what the writer of Hebrews has told us, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen.” Our assurance comes from remembering all the times God has been with us in our most desperate of situations. Assurance tells us God didn’t leave or forsake us then, and we know in current situations God will be with us.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” By this, we are assured God knows all we need, and God stands ready to be with us at every turn.
The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us in 7:12, “For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.” And again in 11:1-2, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.” These are all ways of telling us our assurance is present when we lean in on God. We can lean in when we have developed and maintained our relationship with God.
Now, I know you’re going to say you don’t have to go to church to have a relationship with God. And you know what, you’re right. But I would say congregating with others who are also looking for a relationship with God, pays huge dividends to us. We learn from each other, we support each other, we struggle with each other, and in so doing we are coming face to face with the One who loves and cares for us.
Knowing and relating to God comes through our worship, our prayer time, our meditative time. That’s the kind of premium that keeps on giving, in season and out of season. May each of us continue to know and hold on to the assurance our God gives us. See you Sunday!
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom