Imperishable

It’s always good to try and look at life the way God sees it, but especially during uncertain times.  And today’s global pandemic com­bined with a political climate of hate-fear-spin-rage-polarization (etc.) puts our society in a place of high anxiety and uncertainty.

In the flurry of such a moment, it’s easy to get dragged down into discouragement and forget to wear the glasses of God’s Word in order to get a right perspective on all that’s happening.  We all need to be reminded to look through the lenses of Scripture.

Financial advisors sometimes recommend investing in gold during turbulent times.  Gold is thought of as a “safe” asset when market volatility makes other types of investments look shaky.  There’s even an emotional resonance:  gold is solid and weighty; it “feels” secure.

But in 1 Peter we’re taught that, from God’s point of view, gold is “perishable.”  Rejoice even in the grief of trials, “…so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:7).  “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ,…” (1:18).  Get that?  Gold perishes.

Maybe that’s unnerving—to think that one of the safest, most secure invest­ments isn’t really safe and secure.  Compared to the precious, priceless blood of Christ by which we’re redeemed, gold lacks any lasting value.  Gold is like “wood, hay, and stubble”; it looses its luster, and eventually its value fades, and it perishes.

Our problem is that we often fail to think long-term.  We want sound investments that will pay good dividends through retirement, and we make such plans thinking in terms of decades.  But God would have us take the long view and plan for ages and eons and all eternity!

Knowing that gold (like any other “treasure on earth,” Matthew 6:19-21) can never hold its value or begin to meet our ultimate needs, I urge you:  let today’s angst prompt you to bank on the One whose love is truly safe and secure and everlasting.  Trust in Jesus, the Great Shepherd—he has you in his everlasting, gracious grip! (John 10:28).