Which Policy?
Is there anything wrong with the pursuit of a nicer car, better house, or a job that pays more? No
Then why doesn’t God promise us these things as His children? Because they will not last
The American dream wants us to plant deep roots in what is temporal; God’s promises want us to plant deep roots in what is eternal.
American Dream:
Success, possessions, money, immortality through diet, exercise (not really eternal life)
God’s Promises:
God’s Kingdom come, God’s will be done, His children to have everlasting life
Look at the alternative to God’s promises: American “DREAM”… The problem with a dream is that, by its very nature, it’s something eventually you WAKE UP from.
Our drive to maintain the American dream forces us to have INSURANCE POLICIES in place:
Health, life, auto, identity theft, etc.
The word INSURANCE means to guarantee against loss or harm… we’ll come back to that.
So if INSURANCE is one major way we maintain the American “Dream,” how do we maintain the alternative; God’s promises? … We don’t HAVE to… HE DOES!
God told me “People want Assurance. When they have it, they allow themselves to be at peace.”
Draw near with ASSURANCE… He who promised is FAITHFUL!!!
Hebrews 10:19-23
Again, people want ASSURANCE; when they have it, they allow themselves to be at peace… because they have reached a place where they are now SURE instead of UNSURE.
In our lives, we need to put our hope in ASSURANCE policies instead of INSURANCE policies.
Ultimately, INSURANCE doesn’t bring peace because many times, it’s your own efforts that keep it going… What you put “in”
In the mid 15th century, the word INSURE began to replace ASSURE as a similarly defined word with the understood sense of “make safe against loss by payment of premiums.”
God’s love, His promises, and His PEACE have always been there. THE PREMIUM WAS MORE THAN WE COULD EVER PAY… So JESUS PAID IT!
God offers His assurances to us without premiums… Jesus paid it all.
The word “assurance” occurs 7 times in the Bible; the word “assure” occurs 1 time… Insurance and insure occur 0 times.
HIS heart is ASSURED to us, let us continue to ASSURE (verb) OUR heart to Him.
1 John 3:19-21
Our heart is the only thing we CAN guarantee.
God’s guarantee brings His assurance AND His peace.
When we accept it and walk in it, we will find that, even though we may go through circumstances we WE DON’T KNOW, we can rest in HIS assurance that HE DOES KNOW… and will be with us.
Even though we endure hardships, we can have faith that we will receive what God has promised!
Hebrews 10:32-36
The story of Jim Elliot: “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
Which policy will we rely on today?
The book of Matthew tells us not to lay up treasures for ourselves where moth and rust destroy, but to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven. Psalm 20:7 says that some trust in horses and chariots but we trust in the name of our God.
Rest today in the assurance of our God.
