“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7).

I am surrounded by things here in my office. Outside this office are myriad more things. Many belong to me, yet they make no perceptible dent in the total supply of things available.

And nothing I own or could own will go with me into eternity.

Nothing.

All of it stays behind, eventually to become consumed by man or God.

May God deliver me from attachments to and yearnings for any thing in this life.

This makes me think of a verse in Isaiah. Maybe I can find it by leafing through my Bible a bit . . . I think it is in Isaiah 53 or 55 . . . let me get my fingers off this keyboard a bit…yeah, here it is — Isaiah 55:2 . . . .

“Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”

The US federal government has a financial safety net of sorts that in our day is supposed to catch the elderly after they fall out of regular employment. We call it social security.

In American society in general, who is supposed to take care of the aged ones?

The government, of course!

The Bible speaks of a different kind of social security: God and His people.

“If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed” (1 Timothy 5:16).

In this verse I hear God telling me, “Mark, you must care for the elderly in your family. Don’t expect the church to do so. The church must care for those who don’t have close relatives who can care for them.”

I wonder if I should also hear this from God: “Mark, if there is an elderly person in your congregation who is approaching destitution and has no close kin to care for him, it is your congregation’s responsibility to care for him. Your congregation, Mark. That’s you!”

On the other hand, I could argue that 1 Timothy 5:16 is in a societal context wherein the federal government offered no Social Security program like the US government offers. Thus God had to establish the blood family and the church family as a social security system.

And that argument just might have merit.

It just might.