Last night I tuned into the Larry King Show and heard a man give his
explanation of "visualizing dreams into existence". He
visualized a huge house, a new sports car, among other extravagant
luxuries. He believes that mentally visualizing these things would help
them come to reality. Visualizing prosperity (a derivative of positive
thinking) as a concept has crept into Christian thinking. I simply ask, as
I always do, "what does the Bible say about this?" Can you find
anyone in the New Testament using this visualization technique or
teaching it? I don’t think so.
I’ve stated my Biblical understanding concerning the prosperity
teaching and am trying to put it into practice. The difficulty at times is
that Jesus raises the bar of trust, meaning, we’ve got to learn how to
trust Him in a new area of life. Learning to trust Jesus more is a life
long pursuit. I now close with the following comments.
My father used to say, "you’ve never seen a hearse pulling a
U-Haul trailer to the cemetery". That’s the modern way of saying,
"for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can
carry nothing out". (1 Tim. 6:7 – KJV – my dad only read from the
KJV Bible)
My dad had three guitars that he cherished over the years. One was a
triple neck National Steel guitar that he bought in the early 1950’s. He
actually sold it once when I was young to raise funds to buy our family a
refrigerator. He missed that guitar and a few years later he had the
opportunity to buy it back. Dad also had a 1974 Martin D 35 and a 1979
Dobro. These guitars were his prize possessions.
In March of 2001 my dad developed severe back problems and the steel
guitar was too heavy for him to pull out of its case and play. He didn’t
think his back was getting any better so he gave the steel guitar to me.
Once again this guitar left my dad’s house, but this time it wouldn’t
return. A few tears slipped down my cheeks as I carried the guitar home.
It seemed to me that an end of an era had just taken place.
About six weeks later we found out that dad didn’t have back
problems. He had cancer, and it was rapidly stealing his life away. It was
the first week of May, 2001 when I helped my dad into the bath tub for a
bath, something quite humiliating for an independent man. While dad was in
the tub I pulled out the Dobro. He now knew his guitar playing were over,
so from the tub he told me to take the Dobro home. So I took that
guitar home too. I guess your perspective on things change when you’re
on the doorstep of death, anticipating your next step.
Now two guitars were gone – one left to go. Probably the Martin
guitar was my dad’s favourite of the three, that’s why it was the last
to go. Three weeks after the Dobro went home with me, and one week before
dad died he told me to take the Marten home. The time finally came. The
Martin finally left dad’s house. As sad as it was for me, my father knew
that he brought nothing into this world and he certainly wasn’t going to
take anything out. The Martin now sits beside mine.
On June 7th, 2001 dad went to be with Jesus, just fifteen minutes after
my wife and I prayed that Jesus would take him. Dad’s funeral was on
June 11th, 2001 and on June the 12th we took my mom to the nursing home to
live – the second saddest moment in my life.
Mom had accumulated a life time of memories in her home and when 10 AM
on June the 12th came I told her that it was time to leave. Surprisingly,
without hesitating and not saying a word she just got up from her
favourite chair and left. That’s it. Resigning herself to the moment,
she just stood up and walked to the door, leaving it all behind. Such
resignation was amazing to me. Mom left her home with two large green
garbage bags full of things, along with her chair. Eighty-one years of
memories compressed into two garbage bags.
Over that summer we gave away, sold, and distributed mom and dad’s
things. The house was emptied and sold. Memories became a matter of the
mind.
On Jan. 9, 2003 mom died from a massive stroke. She didn't take anything
with her either, except for one possible exception. Myself, my brother and
sister will be with her someday, as long as we’ve given our lives to
Jesus. What else would my mom want to take with her anyway, except her
three children she gave birth to?
This illustration shows how right Paul was when he told us that we
brought nothing into the world and it is certain that we can carry nothing
out. So should this truth effect where we place the affections of our
hearts? It probably should.
Now I like material things just as much as the next guy. I have my
stuff. I have my dad’s three guitars plus my own Martin D 35, electric
Fender with amp and sound effects, along with a banjo and mouth organs. I’ve
got more to leave behind than dad had. If I could sneak a few things into
Heaven I’d probably try, but that’s not likely to happen.
We know what Jesus said about all of this. He told us to lay up
treasures in Heaven, not on earth. (Matt 6:19-20) I don’t think
treasures on earth are all that bad, as long as we put Jesus first. Jesus
also said that where your treasures are, your heart will be also. (Luke
12:34) Our heart’s affections should be towards Jesus.
I sometimes think of third-world Christians who have no real treasures
in life other than Jesus Himself. Here in North America we live in such a
commercialized society that I’m not sure we know the extent of the hold
things have on us. Commercials from everywhere entice us to want more. The
name, claim, and expect prosperity teaching only magnifies this problem of
covetousness. In my thinking, prosperity teaching comes more from our
materialistic society than from the pages of the Bible.
Remember what Jesus said, "a man’s life does not consist in the
abundance of the things he possesses". (Luke 12:15) That means there’s
more to a person’s worth than the value of his things.
When we became Christians we gave our lives to Jesus because we
realized that He is the supreme authority and truth in the universe. Once
knowing this fact, what other logical choice did we really have but to
give ourselves to Him, which included all of our things. Yes, we gave it
all to Jesus, our guitars, our homes, our cars, our computers and
everything else. That’s what becoming a Christian is all about. It’s
not simply about emailing our wish list to Jesus every morning.
I could say more and quote more Scripture, but I think you’ve got my
point. I close with two quotes. Larry Norman, a Christian singer used to
say, "this world is not my home, I’m just passing through".
Also, Paul told Timothy, "consider what I say and the Lord give you
the understanding in all things". (2 Tim. 2:7) I say the same to you.
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