Insurance

There was a time when I had nothing to give my children.

We were going through a financial hurricane. We’d lost our income and our savings were completely depleted. We relied exclusively on the charity of others to meet our daily needs for food, shelter and clothing. Naturally, we had to strip frivolity from our lifestyle. Birthday parties went out the window along with fast food and entertainment. But after taking the meat cleaver to our budget, wiping the sweat from our foreheads and washing our hands, one thing from our former life remained: life insurance.

We’d debated its merits for a while. Weighed out the pros, cons, and uncertainty of our untimely deaths. However, in the end, we decided to keep it—not because we thought it would be necessary soon, but rather because we knew it would be essential in the future. Whether it came the next day, or many years down the road, death was inevitable. If we could do nothing else, we knew we had to secure our children’s future—even if our deaths were the means to that end.

If my children were older, they probably would have been hurt that we didn’t throw them birthday parties or take them out to eat. I’m sure they would have felt cheated by the second-hand clothes and toys and, at best, perplexed by our choice to use that money to fund a policy that doesn’t help us in the moment . . . a policy that would only bring life after death. However, what they would one day understand is that with every payment, we were giving them hope—and with our eventual deaths we’d be giving them a future.

We may be adults, but we are also children. In your life, there will be times where you are perplexed: wondering when your birthday party will come and why God hasn’t taken you to Chick Fil A in a while. There will be times when you despise the manna He gives you and want to turn your nose up at the “rock water” He provides. On such days, you may even dread tomorrow and find no comfort in the prospect of a heavenly home that you can’t fully access.

But understand this: You are loved.

Before you were born, Jesus made the ultimate payment to give you hope, and with His death He secured your future. Most likely, your birthday parties will resume and you’ll eat Chick Fil A again. But until that day, take heart. You’ve been given something far more valuable.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11