How Can I Buy Without Money?

I read the words of today’s scripture recently, and wondered what on earth it meant. How can you buy without money? By definition, when you buy something, you obtain it in exchange for payment. To get something without money means you are receiving a gift, but receiving a gift cannot really be called buying, can it? Yet here is God, inviting us to buy food and drink, but not with money.

Jesus says something similar to the church of Laodicea; ‘I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich’ (Revelation 3:18). Becoming rich sounds good, but what are we supposed to buy this gold with?

Usually, I would gently puzzle over a verse like that, and then move on to something that made a bit more sense, but this time I thought I would try asking God. “Lord, you wrote this. What does it mean?” No reply came immediately and to be honest I forgot about it.

The next day, we drove past a newly opened car salesroom. A large sign outside told us to “Buy with confidence”. I joked with my husband that, if all we needed was confidence, we should certainly go and get one of their cars. What a great deal!

And then it hit me. That is what today’s verse was saying too. We don’t buy from God with money, we buy with confidence. What sort of confidence? Confidence in God, in His goodness, in who He says He is, and in His promises. It’s trust and confidence in our Heavenly Father. Actually, it seems to me that confidence is another word for faith.

The book of Hebrews defines faith: ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’(Hebrews 11:1). The same writer encourages us to: ‘approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need’ (Hebrews 4:16).

We need this kind of faith, trust and confidence when we approach God, because we can’t see Him. It’s not just you. No human being has ever seen God the Father. Our human eyes are not capable of seeing Him, and our human minds are not capable of working it all out. Instead, we have to connect with Him through our spirit (John 4:24). Your spirit is the “real you” on the inside, the part of you that still feels 21, even when you are 91. That’s because your spirit is eternal and doesn’t age like your body does. Your spirit is the part of you that connects with God, and it does that by using faith.

Faith is when we stop trying to work it out in our mind. We stop thinking it’s a problem that we can’t see God with our eyes, and instead, we start trusting God through our spirit. Just believe that He’s there, that He loves you and that He’s offering you nourishment for your soul and spirit that nobody else can give. As you put your faith and trust in what you can’t see, you’ll receive riches in your spirit which no money could ever buy.

Prayer: Father in heaven, thank You so much that You want to know me. Thank You for inviting me to come to You with the confidence of a child when I am dry and thirsty inside. I choose to trust You today and I put my small hand into Your large, loving, gentle hand. I lay down my defences and fears, which try to stop me trusting You. With my tiny bit of confidence, I gratefully buy Your immense riches, to feed my hungry heart. Thank You, Amen.