We're almost there

About 6 months ago, we put our house on the market. I blogged about it here. We had quite a few showings even over the winter. With 3 different parties, we were told that our house was down to the final 2 or the final 3. But each time, they picked the other house. Always a bridesmaid!

At first, it didn't bother me much. I had targeted the spring market, specifically March, as our likely sell date. So if we sold it earlier, it would simply be a bonus. I had enough savings to be fine with that.

But have you ever carried something fairly light for a long period of time? Maybe it was a backpack or a small child. At first, it's no big deal. But as time wears on, the load feels heavier and heavier. As I saw my bank account get smaller and smaller, as I kept seeing housing prices drop lower and lower in my neighborhood, the load kept getting heavier and heavier.

Now I know that God owns all of my money. I know that God owns everything. He has given me my wealth and can take it away whenever He wants because it's really His money. I have taught a few times about what the Bible says about wealth in the past. Passages like the following are familiar to me.

• Proverbs 22:2 The rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the maker of them all.
• Psalm 50:10 "For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills."

Yet despite my knowledge, I realized something about my heart this week. I really didn't want to lose "my" money. And that was the key word - my. I felt like it was truly mine. So when it left me, it bothered me.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

Through this process of selling our house, God has shown me in His kindness that there is a piece of my heart that loves wealth. This piece of my heart is not loving and worshiping and rejoicing in the greatness of God. This piece of my heart was enslaved to the sin of loving wealth. God showed me that I needed to repent of it so that I could completely trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God.

So regardless of what happens to our house, this process was well worth it. The testing and purifying of my faith is well worth it as it produces patient endurance in me. Endurance to hope in God, to trust in God and to worship God regardless of any circumstances. It just so happened that tonight, we agreed on a sale price with a buyer, the first person to bid on our house.

Now, escrow begins. We could close escrow and complete the sale of our house next month. Or we could fall out of escrow and continue to wait for God to provide the right buyer. Either way, God is sovereign and good. It is His money that I am temporarily managing for His glory. He gives and takes away as He sees fit.