People can be amazingly self-centered and shortsighted. We work hard to receive something we’ve earned through our own self-effort, but the world can attach strings to it. We think we’re successful when we’re finally able to afford the luxury car we’ve been wanting, the expensive resort home, or that big diamond ring; however, cars can be repossessed, homes can go into foreclosure, and expensive jewelry gets sold if we hit hard times financially. Trusting in the world’s co-called “blessings” can be unsettling, but we can be fully confident that God’s blessings are permanent.

Our environment offers us a million ways to seek stability. We can chase the stock market, a big bank account, or financial investments; there’s nothing wrong with these things, as long as we don’t put them first in our lives. Putting them before God may seem like a good idea at the time, but they can all shift and disappear in the blink of an eye. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

We need to get away from the mindset that tells us to rely on ourselves. God loves us and wants to bless us; we receive those blessings by trusting in Him, not in our own works. He promised the children of Israel blessings they didn’t earn. “The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant…” (Deuteronomy 6:10, 11, NLT). He later kept that promise. “I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build—the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them” (Joshua 24:13, NLT).

God wants to give us good things not based on our behavior, but on Jesus’ behavior and our faith in His finished works. His blessings aren’t just in the physical realm, but also in the spiritual realm; they include things like salvation, righteousness, peace, and joy. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit” (Jermiah 17:7,8, NKJV). Everything is already done; we don’t need to manufacture what has been completed.

God made His promises of blessings for the believer extensive and detailed to emphasize that they apply to all areas. We need not fear for our safety, because He has blessed us with protection and security (Psalm 91:1-16). We’re free from fears about money because He promised to bless us financially (Proverbs 10:22; Philippians 4:19). Neither do we need to be afraid of any adversity (Deuteronomy 7:13, 14).

What we try to accomplish on our own can fall apart over time. By contrast, what God has done can never be undone. His blessings in the natural originated in the supernatural, and are therefore eternal. Having the godly wisdom to know this keeps us from pursuing the wrong things.