Flood Insurance For Our Soul
Picture yourself in your lawn chair, near a pool, soaking up the sun on a beautiful summer day with blue skies and white fluffy clouds, when almost out of nowhere, a light drizzle begins to fall. Then suddenly, there is a flashof lightning and the startling boom of thunder indicating that the lightning strike was close by. You grab your towel and other items and make a dash for safety. The drizzle suddenly becomes a torrent of rain and the winds begin to blow as a summer storm rolls in.
Isn’t that how it can be in our personal lives as well? One minute our personal and spiritual life is basking in blue skies and the next the storms of life catch us off guard as we run for shelter. How can we be prepared when the inevitable storm arrives? Read on.
In recent years, we have all witnessed the super destructive power of wind and rain. Just look back to Hurricane Andrew in Homestead, Hugo in South Carolina, Wilma from Mexico to Florida, Katrina in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast area, Sandy in New Jersey the recent tornadoes in the mid-west and the tsunamis of 2011 in Japan and 2004 in the Indian Ocean. Growing up I personally experienced a destructive flood in 1969 in my home town in Ohio that claimed many lives and left our town without water and electricity for weeks. The wake of destruction in each of these storms was devastating. In addition to billions of dollars in property damage, a very heavy price was paid by loss of human life. I think we can all agree that our souls and our faith can also be buffeted by equally destructive storms- no doubt most of us have experienced some. Is there flood insurance for our souls? Let’s take a look.
If there is flood insurance for our soul, what is this insurance? What does the bible say about it? What are the terms of the contract and how much are the premiums for this insurance and who pays them? Are there exclusions? What does Jesus tell us?
“Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
In addition to my 4thdayletters ministry, I have been in the insurance business for over 30 years. I think most people would agree insurance policies can be quite daunting to understand and we all worry about the “fine print” in the policies. Everyone is concerned about the exclusions in their policies. I think by now most of us know that flood damage is excluded under a home owner’s policy and special government flood insurance is needed to protect your home.
So let’s first examine what the key elements are that make up any legal contract especially an insurance policy so we can thenlook at the policy provisions of our Spiritual Flood Insurance policy.
- There must be an offer and an acceptance
- There must be a purpose or objective
- There should be a mutuality of obligation (terms of the contract)
- There must be consideration (premium)
SPIRITUAL FLOOD INSURANCE
POLICY PROVISIONS
“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER:Rm 10:9 and Acts 16:30-31
“For, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
“Then he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”
THE PURPOSE: Jn 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”
HIS OBLIGATION: Phil 2:6-8
“Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. ”
OUR OBLIGATION: Jn 14:15, Jn 13:34-35and Jn 14:21
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
“Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
CONSIDERATION/ PREMIUM: Mt. 27:45-50
“From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Some of the bystanders who heard it said, ‘This one is calling for Elijah.’ Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, ‘Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him.’ But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit.”
EXCLUSIONS: Mt 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
One of the things I have witnessed in my insurance career is that often people wait until it is too late to buy the policies they need. It is too late to buy flood insurance when the waters are already rising around your home. No we must be prepared in advance and the same is true for our eternal salvation. How do we get this coverage for our soul and who pays the premium? The good news my friends is that Jesus has already paid the premium and He paid a very heavy price. He gave His life as the premium for our salvation.
What do we need to do? We need to confess Jesus as our Lord and demonstrate with our actions that what our lips said is in fact true. Like an insurance policy, the fine print and exclusions matter. “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
Let’s put this policy in force today. Let’s confess Jesus as our Lord, let’s work hard at keeping His commands, and let’s love one another as Christ has loved us. Then when the storms of life come, we can rest assured that our eternal home is protected and we are contractually covered by the sacrifice of Jesus our Lord.
Father, I thank you for your son Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for my eternal salvation. Let me respond by both word and deed to demonstrate my acceptance of the gift He freely offers me. Help me to keep your commands and love my neighbor as you love me, Amen
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