21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

Day 12

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

There is great comfort in the promise that God will never leave me or forsake me.  However, the context of this promise is set against my temptation to trust in the physical things of this world.  For me to be content with what I have and not gripped by a love for more money means that I do not find my value in physical things.

This world worships at the altar of success.  More money and more possessions are the evidence of worldly success.  I struggle to not define myself by these things.  Even churches struggle with this picture of success as they are rewarded based on their budgets, buildings, bodies, and baptisms. 

This promise of God not leaving or forsaking me is not just about the comfort I feel by removing the threat of rejection or abandonment.  This promise is about me finding my value in the fact that I belong to God.  I am to find greater value in knowing I am loved and belong to God than anything in the world. 

I could gain all the world and the world would want to be with me because of what I have.  But the minute I lost my money, I would also loose the admiration of the world.  The world will not and cannot make the promise God makes.  The world only loves me because I have the things the world values.  Without money or possessions, I have very little value to the world and the world choose to cast me aside.

God loves me.  Even in my sin, God loves me.  Why would I let a fickle and duplicitous world define my value?  I choose to have my value defined by God.  His love for me is a commitment that will not leave.

Prayer: Father God, I am so comforted by the fact that You love me with a unique love that will never leave me or forsake me.  You are always with me, help me recognize your presence. Teach me to find my value within You.  Help me to reject the world and its standard of success.  When I am tempted to chase after worldly success, remind me of Your unconditional love.  Expose to me again, the hollow and empty nature of worldly comfort.