I was struck by this recent headline, amidst the financial fallout from COVID-19,
US loses 500,000 millionaires as coronavirus pandemic erodes fortunes of ultra-wealthy
The number of millionaires in the U.S. has plummeted from a record-high as the dual financial and health crises from the coronavirus pandemic slowly destroy the fortunes of the richest Americans.
The headline immediately came to mind, as I was reading Steve Lawson’s new book, New Life in Christ. Describing how Nicodemus must have felt when, despite his accumulated religious portfolio, Jesus declares him spiritually bankrupt and in need of a second spiritual birth, Lawson writes,
“This is how investors feel when they have poured their hard-earned money into a company that unexpectedly goes bankrupt. After years of putting capital into the enterprise, they have no profits to show for it, only losses…
Nicodemus found himself at a similar crossroads after this self-righteous ruler was told by Jesus that he must be born again. In other words, he must completely start over with God. All his years of strict religious living profited him nothing toward entrance into the kingdom of God. All his good works and respectable morality resulted in no standing of acceptance with God. He would have to renounce everything he thought would commend him to God. Nicodemus must accept this assessment by Jesus, that he had misspent his entire life in pursuing that which would gain him nothing. His religious efforts, spiritual activities, moral pursuits—everything he attempted left him spiritually penniless. He would have to concede that he was wrong all along and swallow his pride. And that is a bitter pill to swallow.”
This pandemic has suddenly stripped securities of all types from our lives – emotional, physical and financial. Yet, our providential, merciful and just God can redeem this situation, by impressing upon human beings their spiritual bankruptcy, and His eternal security, found only through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray towards that end…
