Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:21, NIV.

He was a man who had everything—a typical baby boomer, rich, successful, handsome, and well educated. But he lacked one thing: peace of mind—the peace of mind that comes with one’s assurance of a saving relationship with God. So when he asked what he needed to do to be saved, and Jesus said to sell everything and give it to the poor, he panicked!

“What! Give up my Porche, my Waverunner, my vacation home, my Caribbean holidays, my . . . Impossible!”

What Jesus required of the young man shocked the disciples. But material possessions are often a source of anxiety rather than a means of escaping from it. I learned that lesson recently on a trip to Atlanta. The rental car company gave me a new bright-red Cadillac for the price of the subcompact I had reserved. All night I tossed and turned in my motel bed worrying that someone might steal it! Had I been driving my old jalopy, I would have slept like a baby!

Gaining or maintaining financial success can be stressful: investing, buying, selling, watching the stock market, meeting deadlines, making business luncheons, playing politics. And when you feel driven to do everything that life on the fast track demands, it doesn’t leave much time and energy for the Lord.

But impossibilities for humanity are possibilities with God (Mark 10:27). Rich men and women can enjoy peace of mind in this life if they make God’s kingdom their first priority and follow Him.

Allow God to manage your financial affairs. Make investments in His kingdom rather than Satan’s. With God’s help, you can lay down your burdens, go through the “eye of a needle” (see Luke 18:25), and find peace of mind.

Ask God what burden you need to put down to have true peace of mind.

Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.