Hope for Life Blog

I have to admit, I’m a big fan of the Disney/Pixar movies. I always look forward to the movies they bring out. I’ve become surprisingly attached to fish, bugs, cars and robots as I’ve watched their films. Yet the films that really stand out in my mind are the “Toy Story” movies.

There’s one bit of imagery I like in those movies that emphasize the concept of belonging. There are important scenes where the toys are shown to have their owner’s name written on them, emphasizing the tie they have to him. They are his toys, his treasured possessions.

One reason I like that imagery is because it reminds me of what the Bible says about our relationship to God. Speaking to Christians in the Middle Eastern city of Philadelphia, Jesus promises to the faithful: “I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.” (Revelation 3:12)

I love that idea, that God will want to show everyone that Christians belong to Him. He will write His name on us.

The apostle Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

We are a people belonging to God. Once we weren’t even a people, but now we are the people that belong to God. God has written His name on us for all to see. God has chosen us to be His.

Who do you belong to? You have the chance to belong to God, to give yourself to Him and let Him write His name on you. You can be his treasured possession.

If we read about the first part of Howard Hughes’ life, it’s hard not to envy the man. In 1966, he was named the richest person in the world. His fortune is estimated to have been worth more than $40 billion in today’s dollars.

On a trip to Las Vegas, Hughes had a disagreement with the owner of one casino. His answer? He bought the casino and several around it. Money was his answer for everything.

Hughes was also nicknamed the world’s greatest womanizer. He dated various beautiful Hollywood actresses, including Ginger Rogers, Olivia de Havilland, and Katherine Hepburn.

In his prime, Hughes was a daring aviator and tireless tinkerer who spurred science to new heights. He was an industrialist, entrepreneur, and world record setter. His wooden plane, the Spruce Goose, was the largest amphibious plane ever built, and was taller and wider than any aircraft in history.

Surely this was a man who had it all. Despite all of that, Hughes lived his last twenty years in reclusion. He refused to appear in public or to be photographed. He became an extreme hypochondriac, with an unnatural fear of germs. He was only seen by his doctors and his personal servants. He refused to cut his hair, his beard or his nails.

It was a miserable life. When he died, he was a wretched skeleton of a man, who died outside the presence of family or friends.

Money is not the answer to everything. It can’t purchase happiness. It can’t bring us peace. It can’t even prolong our lives.

Jesus said, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:20-21).

The apostle Paul said something similar when he wrote:

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:18-19).

Howard Hughes had money, but he didn’t have what Paul calls “the life that is truly life.” He had a dismal imitation of life that no one would choose for themselves.

If your life is built around money and the things it can obtain, you’ll never know what true life is. If your treasure isn’t being stored up in heaven, it will come to be worthless to you one day. You need God and the riches he can give. You need to build your life around the things that will never lose value, that will never fail to satisfy.

You need God.