A lot of people in the Permian Basin say, “I have everything I need — a nice family, money, a big house, good cars, my health, so why do I need God?”
Ministers Johnny Touchstone and Allan Stanglin call that fallacious thinking, saying a life without God is empty and ultimately tragic.
“If you’re able to get up and go to work, the Lord woke you up and gave you the strength to work,” said the Rev. Touchstone, pastor of Vine Baptist Church. “You wouldn’t have all that stuff if it weren’t for God.
“But a lot of people have chosen that road, which leads to destruction. The only thing that keeps us out of Heaven is not having faith in Jesus Christ.”
Touchstone said materialism is antithetical to holiness and obedience to the precepts of God.
“It’s that old flesh that we battle every day,” he said. “We’re shortsighted and take our eyes off the Lord.
“Everything on this earth changes except Jesus and the Word, finding our identity in Christ and not the things of this world whether those be wealth or position or whatever.”
Stanglin, minister of Golf Course Road Church of Christ in Midland, said Jesus didn’t let himself to be crucified only so that his followers would one day go to Heaven.
“Jesus wants us to have an abundant life now so that we can have the perfect peace that can only come with a relationship with God,” Stanglin said.
He said there is nothing wrong with material success, but finding one’s core satisfaction in material things is delusional.
“Career, possessions and health can be stripped away, so basing your happiness on them is foolish and shortsighted,” Stanglin said. “The world can come crashing in pretty quick and there are a lot of people who get distracted from the eternal things by what is right in front of them.
“We see it all the time. A man gets very successful with what we call American values, saying, ‘I did this all by myself. It was my bootstraps, my hard work, my ingenuity…’”
He said the future cannot be built on shifting standards.
“It’s good to have a nice house and a secure job, but we need to be engaging that heavenly mission, investing in things that will not fade away and storing up our treasures in Heaven,” Stanglin said.
“It’s not just about what happens when we die. What are we investing in right now to make this world what God wants it to be?”
