(Previous Article)

I’ve heard confidence defined as “that feeling you have before you fully understand the situation.” Actually, I first saw that on a t-shirt. Bought the shirt.

Now, while the picture on the shirt sets that definition in the context of outdoor adventure, I have found it true in many areas of life.

For example, I was confident I understood my health insurance policy deductible. Turns out, I did not yet fully understand the situation.

I’ve had health insurance most of my adult life. I understand how deductibles work. They are perhaps the most fundamental criteria on which insurance policies are selected.

My current policy has a $5200 individual deductible, $10,400 family deductible. Which means that when one person on the policy reaches $5200 in medical expenses in a given year, they have satisfied their deductible, and additional expenses are paid by the policy. However, if other family members have medical expenses, they are not paid by the policy until the total medical expenses for the family reach $10,400. After that, any medical expenses for any family member are covered.

My son’s shoulder has given him trouble since Spring Football of his Junior year of high school. This spring, it got bad enough that we went back to the doctor. The MRI showed that he had a 50% tear in his rotator cuff. He needed surgery.

The surgeon required payment him up front. This used up almost half of his individual deductible. The hospital expenses would easily use up the rest of it.

When they got into his shoulder, they discovered the rotator cuff was intact. The problem was bone spurs and bursitis. This meant he could start physical therapy much sooner.

No problem. That will be covered by insurance, since we have already satisfied our deductible. Except, when we go to make the appointment, the lady tells us that since our deductible is $10,400, we will have to pay for physical therapy.

Wait. The individual deductible on our policy is $5200, not $10,400.

Did I mention that our health insurance policy is classified as a High Deductible with an attached Health Savings Account?

Turns out, that’s significant. This kind of policy has special rules. Like the rule that says the individual deductible only applies to policies that cover one individual. If there are more than one person on the policy the family deductible must be satisfied before any benefits are paid.

So, you’re telling me I’m going to have to come up with $10,000, not $5000?

Yep.

Of course, the medical billing process is a long, drawn out affair, so the good news is, I won’t have to pay the bill right away. The bad news? The prospect of this impending bill could be hanging over hour heads for several months.

Paying this amount will take everything I can come up with, and then some. Which brings us back to the agenda we have been talking about for the last few articles.

We have argued that God’s agenda for the material possessions entrusted to us can be summarized with four items:

• Provide for my needs, and those of my family
• Provide for the needs of others within the body
• Share materially with those whose lives are devoted to sharing spiritually with me and others.
• Build relationships with those I can impact spiritually

How can I begin to think about sharing with others (items 2-4) when I don’t know how I’m going to cover the needs of my family, since they include things like this medical bill? In fact, the needs of my own family often seem overwhelming, especially when you factor in college for the kids, weddings, particularly for daughters, and retirement. It seems like there is very little available to share with others.

Fortunately, very early in the process of dealing with these medical bills, Psalm 37 came to mind, specifically verses 25 & 26:

I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread. All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.

With this passage came the realization that I had not yet received a bill that I could not pay. I had enough for that day. While I am not real old, I have lived long enough to to experience God’s faithfulness, as the Psalmist describes it, in my walk with Him. And He has never forsaken me.

This brings us back to one of the core lessons in our exploration of dependence. Israel had to learn it through the Manna during their 40 years in the wilderness. As a lasting reminder of that lesson, they were to observe the Sabbath. Jesus stated it explicitly in the Sermon on the Mount. It was a critical part of the disciples’ basic training. And what is modeled among these saints down through the ages is explicitly commanded in the Epistles.

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”      –  Hebrews 13:5

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.     –  1 Timothy 6:6-8

What is this core lesson?

It’s that our dependence on God is a daily dependence. If we have enough for today, we are to be content.

Such contentment frees us from the concerns of bills not yet received and expenses not yet encountered – things like college, weddings, and retirement.

Against the background of such contentment, Paul’s instructions to Timothy give us the guidance we need to balance the four priorities of God’s agenda for our finances (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

You’ll note that this is directed at those who are “rich in this present world”. Now you may not think of yourself as rich, but as we have seen, if we have food and clothing, we are to be content (vv. 9-11). If you have anything beyond what’s required to meet your immediate needs, you have some measure of excess and should find these instructions beneficial.

So, what guidance does this passage give us? Several points stand out:

• We are not to be conceited or to fix our hope on the uncertainty of riches – Conceit is expressed, not only in an attitude of superiority, but also in the presumption that we can handle the uncertainties of tomorrow independent of God and His provision. Such conceit grows out of a confidence in riches. We can either place our confidence in God, or in riches. The question is, “Which do we trust?”
• Fixing our hope on God allows us to enjoy all that He gives us – God wants us to enjoy the things He gives us. But this enjoyment is rooted in the recognition that He has given them to us. If we begin to look to the riches for security, we loose sight of God. Now, instead of being able to enjoy them, we begin to try to secure enough to cover whatever eventualities we can imagine. This leads to a fixation on the black hole of future needs. We can always envision a scenario in which whatever we have will not be enough. This fixation breeds discontentment and hinders our enjoyment of what He has provided for today.
• We fix our hope on God by being generous and ready to share – The conviction that God will richly provide frees us from worry about tomorrow. With that assurance, we can be on the alert for opportunities to share our surplus with others. Remember that items 2 and 3 on the agenda are all about sharing – sharing with those who are suffering need and with those who share spiritually with us and with others. And item 4 is about building relationships with those whom we can influence spiritually – that is, those we can share spiritual truth with ourselves.
• Such generosity and sharing are how we store up real treasure in the age to come, and are the means by which we gain true life – Where can we find life? If we place our hope in material riches, we are betting everything that life is found in this age. But Scripture tells us that the fulfillment of all that we are looking for is found in the age to come. We store up treasure there, that is we make our future existence meaningful, by the generosity and sharing that flows out of our confidence in God’s rich provision.

The solution is not as hard as we make it. It get’s complicated when we begin to take responsibility for the provisions for tomorrow. Anything beyond what is necessary for our basic needs is surplus. As we enjoy all that God gives us, we should be on the alert for opportunities to be generous. Generous with our possessions. Generous with the spiritual blessings that are ours. In that generosity, God will supply all our needs.