What do you think of when you hear the word reliable? I think of all those things in life that I assume are going to be there and work the way I expect. I want my hot water heater to be reliable so I can take a hot shower every day. I want my phone service to be reliable so I can text family and friends. I want my car to be reliable and start every time I push the button.
So, when a severe thunderstorm knocked out the electricity as we were leaving for vacation, I was not happy because I couldn’t take my hot shower before we got on the plane. When the nationwide Verizon outage happened several weeks ago, I was frustrated because my phone wouldn’t send texts – and because I couldn’t check the news on my phone, I didn’t even know there was an outage until six hours after it began. And it’s inconvenient when I forget to throw my car keys in my purse before I head out the door to drive to work and the car won’t start. At least that problem is easily fixed!
I want things to be reliable and I avoid anything that’s unreliable.
Then why do many of us rely heavily on our money to make us happy when it can be very unreliable? Anyone who watched the housing market crash during the Great Recession of 2008 experienced that firsthand. Obviously, this problem didn’t just materialize in our world in the past few decades – Paul wrote to Timothy in the first century AD about this very same problem. And centuries before Paul, God told Moses that when the Israelites came into the Promised Land, they would become prosperous and forget to rely on God (Deuteronomy 31:20).
In our culture, money allows us to take care of our basic needs, but when we have accomplished that, God reminds us that “true life” comes when we use our money to do good, be generous and share. It is investing in relationships that we find the “life that’s truly life” (1 Timothy 6:17, NIV).
And the most reliable relationship? That’s with God! Invest in him – the return on that investment is eternal.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you always keep your promises even when I struggle to keep mine. Teach me to invest in relationships – with my family and friends, with my coworkers and acquaintances, and especially in my relationship with you. Amen.