Hold On Loosely

Hold on to things loosely.

Hold on.

But hold on loosely.

Get in the habit of giving things away.

If God can use it through you, He will give it to you. 

Christians are to be conduits, not collectors. This is one of the most difficult leadership lessons I have attempted to learn and implement in my life. We can freely give because we know Christ is coming back. HE IS COMING BACK! So, we can hold on loosely. Begin each day with the end in mind. Don’t be short-sighted!

Myopia is the term for what is more commonly known as nearsightedness. People who are nearsighted only see what’s near or close to them. Their range of vision is limited. They need glasses to see things farther away due to their nearsightedness.

This same terminology can be used to describe not seeing the big picture of eternal life. This limited perspective leads to living for the moment and making choices that only have an immediate benefit. Christians know that Christ is coming back, and heaven is our final destination. Because of this knowledge, we can hold on loosely to our money and our possessions.

Rich people are usually happy about their riches. However, James challenged his affluent readers to weep and howl. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you” (James 5:1). Taken together, the phrase “weep and howl” describes an intense outburst of despairing, violent, uncontrollable grief.

In Luke 6:24–25, Jesus also warned the rich. “Woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” The Bible nowhere condemns the rich for being rich. Money is not evil. “The love of money,” Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:10, “is a root of all sorts of evil.” He later wrote that it is God “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (v. 17).

Nothing more clearly reveals the state of a person’s heart than their view of money and material possessions. Jesus said more about money in Matthew 6:19–21. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

Holding on too tightly is a real problem for us. We even build storage facilities to house stuff that our homes can no longer hold. We will pay rent to keep things when we accumulate too much. We collect stuff for stuff’s sake. We could take the stuff we no longer use and share it with someone else who can use it. Instead, we accumulate it, save it, and even pay rent to keep it. Although there are good reasons to rent a storage space, it could also be an expression of selfishness. Selfishness is not what God has in mind. “For God so loved the world that HE GAVE.”

Hold on to things loosely.

Hold on.

But hold on loosely.

Get in the habit of giving things away.

If God can use it through you, He will give it to you.