Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6
“The Lord will stand by His people, and deliver them, when it shall be for His glory. Now, till we come to this courage and constancy of mind, and fearlessness of men, we never have the generosity of Christians…
It goeth near to the hearts of worldlings to part with their necessary and convenient earthly comforts; but to a believer it is more easy, for heaven is infinitely better and more precious than all the wealth of the world.
If the world be our darling, or any created comfort be overvalued, it will fill our hearts with sorrow to be deprived of it. A Christian, that hath heaven in hope and reversion, cannot be poor; he is richer than all worldly men, though God’s providence hath given him little, or left him little.”
Thomas Manton (1622-1677) in Sermon II on John 14:1 in The Works of Thomas Manton (London: J. Nisbet & Company, 1874) 354.
Do you have this constancy of mind? Only when a Christian believes that he or she has everything in the Lord, can he or she let go of earthly comforts. The key is not to overvalue anything here on earth as “worldlings” do. Easier said than done.
Notice Manton said it is not easy but “more easy” for the believer to grasp this because, while we cannot comprehend heaven and the rewards that await us, we have a glimpse of it. It’s infinitely better than anything we can acquire, better than “all the wealth of the world.”
Manton’s advice for us today is clear: we will never have the generosity of Christians if we don’t hold fast to the notion that the Lord is our Helper. Is the Lord your helper? Or perhaps, if I asked a close friend or family member if the Lord is your helper, what would that person say?