GIF The “Keeping Up With” Disease

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way”
(Psalm 37:7)

The “Keeping Up With” Disease
by Larry Burkett

Do you worry or become overworked because someone else is prospering and you aren’t? This is caused by a malady called “keeping up with the Joneses,” and there are many Christians who have this disease in its final stages.

There is a cure; it’s called patience. The prescription is faith, and it can be obtained from your Great Physician.

In trying to keep up with the Joneses, we suffer an “attack” of money shortages.

However, for too many Christians with this disease the “infection” of impatience is severe. Many cannot wait for God to act; they must put a “bandage” on the shortage now. This might be done by taking a second mortgage, a second job, a get-rich-quick scheme.

The Great Physician doesn’t administer human salve. The answer to money problems isn’t more money. We wouldn’t give more sugar to a diabetic. Instead He prescribes a “double dose” of patience, the very deficiency that brought about the “keeping up with” disease.

More work to meet higher financial demands may keep us from the Lord’s rest and bring on fatigue. If we refuse His “treatment,” we will take our own medicine.

How can you avoid catching this dreaded disease? Avoid contact with others who have the disease, and read Psalm 37:1-7. Confess your envy and ask for the Lord’s “treatment.”

Daily Scripture Reading: 

Psalms 74, 79-80, 89