Tuesday Brief
General Superintendent Max Edwards & Judy
April 21, 2026 If I Just Had Enough Stuff … We humans are easily distracted. Deep down, we know that life is more than what we can see. I don’t think there are too many folks lying on their death beds, thinking they wish they had one more baseball card or that they owned just a little fancier car. But nonetheless, we are easily pulled into chasing our tails, so to speak, focusing on those things that fill our eyes, or things that we can touch and taste and compile. They fill our minds and occupy our time. They rob us of our valuable energy, and keep us centered on things that do not last, and cannot really satisfy. The writer of Hebrews wisely offers this apt advice: “… keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have …” And Jesus Himself was once questioned by a person focused on his inheritance, to which the Lord responded, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”1 It must be a goal of ours to keep our hearts pure of the poison of possessions, while at the same time being thankful for them as outpourings of God’s grace toward us. He very much wants to bless His children with good things, just like we enjoy giving our children good gifts. But we do not want them to become materialistic, greedy, and shallow. We must determine to heed the counsel of the second stanza of the beloved hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross: “… All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them through His blood.”2 Lord, please help us all follow the wisdom offered to Timothy by the aged Apostle Paul: “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. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith …”3 1
Hebrews 13:5, and Luke 12:15, respec6vely Wa;s, Isaac. "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." (first published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs – 1707) 3 1 Timothy 6:6-12a 2