Of Insurance and Assurance

The word insurance conjures up all sorts of thoughts and feelings. If you have been struggling to pay health insurance premiums or have been “self” insuring because you cannot afford the health plan, the word insurance is loaded with anxiety. Now if you had a water pipe break in your home and the insurance company just paid for a new kitchen, you are probably singing the jingle – “Nationwide is on you side.”

I was trained in the life & health insurance business and saw firsthand how insurance can change lives. I sold a major medical policy to a college friend – call him Joe, who was a self-employed flooring contractor. It was a hot Friday afternoon as we stood outside his truck while he signed the medical insurance application. I convinced him to include a check with the application to bind the coverage – “just in case.” He pushed the disability insurance discussion off for another meeting. On Sunday night I received a phone call from his sister. Joe was in the hospital, and she wanted to know if the coverage was in effect. I explained that if he was approved through the underwriting process, it would be in effect on the date he signed the application. The sigh of relief was as emotional as it was audible.

Joe was at a pool party on Saturday. He dove into the pool not knowing that there were steps. He broke his neck and was paralyzed from the chest down, with limited movement in his arms. That first year, 1984, Mutual of Omaha paid over $100,000.

Insurance covers a financial loss; it can even create an estate through life insurance. It can replace income and replace a house. Insurance can pay for assisted living. But the losses of human, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual are uninsurable. How could you place a value on your mind, the ability to remember your children’s names?

There is no insurance for the loss of hope, or the peace of all things spiritual. There is only trust and faith. Trust in Jesus and faith that in Christ all things work together for good. There is no insurance for human suffering. There is only Jesus. And get this, there are no premiums to pay. The offerings we bring to God are not insurance against suffering. Offerings represent our “tangible” songs of grateful praise. Jesus is not an insurance company, compensating us against our loss and suffering. He is the assurance that God’s steadfast love endures forever.