Watch the Devotion

Based on 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Happy birthday to my friends in the Air Force and Air National Guard! Integrity first, service above self, and excellence in all you do—with a grateful heart I say thank you for your service.

Last month in my daily brief e-mail from military.com, I learned that the national average for your BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) rose almost 5.5 percent this year. I also learned that most military pay increased 4.5 percent with junior enlisted receiving a 14.5 percent raise in their paycheck. I mention all of that to say how grateful I am that our Father in heaven has provided this for you.

I also share because I’ve been in many military homes, apartments, base or post housing, and barracks, and I have to say that you as members of our nation’s military live modestly. God the Father provides your daily bread—as he promises—and sometimes there are stages of life where finances seem not to be a worry at all for you. You don’t think twice about going out to eat with your family, or taking that awesome vacation, or going out with friends every weekend. But there are stages of life where finances seem to always be a little snug. You really have to watch how you spend your income.

It’s no secret that God the Father who gives you your daily bread through your vocation as a war fighter has something to say about your wealth. Through the apostle Paul, writing to a pastor named Timothy, he says to you and me: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:6-10).

“We will be content with that.” That is a difficult thing to do, isn’t it? Sometimes the devil takes that good thing that God gifts to you and turns it into this: “If I just had a little more, I’d be happier. I could afford a little nicer home in a nicer part of town or get a nicer car . . .” And the list goes on.

Or he takes you in a different direction. Because of the wealth God the Father showers on you, you may be tempted not to take to heart the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread,” because there’s no need to lean on the Father for daily bread since you’re rolling in it.

And then on other hand, when you live modestly, or have to go without, when you’re on the financial struggle bus, the devil holds in front of your eyes all those people who have more than you. He shows you all that you could have, all that you could do if you had more. You’d be happy, at least happier, and not stressing so much about money.

God sends us these warnings about the love of money and addresses the attitude of our hearts toward money and wealth because he doesn’t want it to be the idol that we construct in our hearts. As Paul warns, it is so we do not “wander from the faith.” We will no longer look to our Father with thanksgiving, no longer look to him to provide, no longer look to him to be our Savior.

That’s why God talks about money so frequently in the Scriptures—so that we repent and tear down the idols we’ve erected in our hearts—so that we turn from them and turn to the one who “was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). That’s your Savior Jesus, your priceless treasure, the one thing needed, the one who is the Bread of Life, the one who left the riches and wealth of heaven to be born as a poor human being. He came to live with no idols in his heart, to live with full dependence on his Father for his daily bread. He lived with joyful thanksgiving in his heart toward his Father for his daily bread so that you might be forgiven. And you are forgiven by his perfect life lived for you! So that you might live content lives in Christ, knowing and trusting that in Christ you have all things. So that you might say, “Yes! Godliness with contentment is great gain. I am content because I am in Christ!”

Prayer:

O God, you have told us not to be anxious about what we need for this life. Move our hearts to seek you and your kingdom, that all good things may be given to us as well. Since 1947 the mission of our United States Air Force and Air National Guard is to fly, fight, and win. Through our Air Force and Air Guard you, O Lord, have kept watch from the heavens. You have allowed the power of our Air Force to strike fear in the hearts of our enemies—through this show of force you keep us safe. O Spirit, whom the Father sent to spread abroad the firmament, O wind of heaven, by your might save all who dare the eagle’s flight, and keep them by your watchful care from every peril in the air. Amen.

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

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