My debit card. I don’t even want to tell you how reliant I am on that thing.
One day a few years back I couldn’t find my card anywhere. I looked for it all day. Even by the next morning, still no trace. I searched high and low, near and far. I even searched under the sofa cushions. That was a little scary. I found 37 cents, three marbles, a T shirt (how had we ignored that lump?), seven M & M’s, my favorite sunglasses, and the TV remote (hey, we’d been looking for that). But no card.
I rifled through my purse for the gazillionth time. Even though I’d already looked there, it was still scary too. There was a ball of purse fuzz the size of a small gerbil. Got to admit I perked up a little when I found the rest of those M & M’s. Another bonus, six different shades of nail polish—most of which weren’t even dried up yet. All of that was hiding among a ream of receipts I would never need. But still no card.
I checked our bank account online to make sure no one had used the rogue card. Nope, no extra charges. Still, I was just this side of panic.
Why in the world is it that I wait until panic starts to set in before I remember where I really need to turn? Finally I thought, I’ll have some time with the Lord and then I can take up the hunt again, hopefully with more peace, less panic.
I opened my Bible and—you’re not even going to believe this, but I promise it’s true—guess what fell out. Yep. My card! I knew I had marked my place the day before, I just hadn’t realized I used my card to do it. Who absentmindedly sticks a bank card between their bible pages? Evidently, this girl. What a weird move—spiritually and financially.
I love how the Father chose to teach me this lesson, reminding me where I should run first. I found great treasure in the pages of His word that morning. Believe it or not, the real treasure was not even card-related. Psalm 119:14-16 expresses it well. “I rejoice in the way revealed by your decrees as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word” (CSB).
Debit cards may come and go—they literally have expiration dates. But true riches are eternal, and they’re found in knowing our magnificent God and His wisdom. As the psalmist tells us in Psalm 49:20, “People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish” (NIV). Doesn’t that mean I can have all the debit cards and all the riches in the world, but unless I have the wealth of the wisdom that comes from knowing Christ, I’m no better off than a lifeless purse gerbil?
Our wealth is only in Jesus and only because of Jesus—all glory to Him. I’m telling you, I want to be diligent about hanging onto that truth.
It wouldn’t hurt me to be more diligent about hanging onto my card too. Every time I do, do you suppose I can I get credit for it? Or would that be debit?