Jim Broyles - Assignment of Life Insurance

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Submitted by Jim Broyles on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 21:52

Europe_164You'll just have to indulge my work-related tendencies and esoteric jargon for the post this morning -- but I won't apologize.  The past couple of months, my pastors have been trekking through the Sermon on the Mount, hovering the first few weeks on the beatitudes, knowing blessedness, and living in the knowledge that these things have already been accomplished on your behalf.  All great preaching, and I would highly recommend you check out the teachings on the Grace DC website. A few weeks ago, I was struck by the sermon surrounding meekness: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

The sermon discussed self-promotion and our ability to justify our ongoing salesmanship of our own talents.  Our society subscribes to self-help books as though reading them will actually allow us to self-help.  I can't think of anything more appropriate for young people in our current economy to do than reinforce the strengths they have, play down the weaknesses, and nail those interviews.  Seriously, check out the Wall Street Journal career section (if you don't already) as see what we are told about progressing in our vocation.  Aside from a few nifty stories told there, you'll find the constant riff of building and refining your skills, then learning how to sell them.  This is not all bad, but there is certainly something to be gleaned from the repetition of this lesson.

So, I currently work for a bank in Washington, DC.  After you complete the full circum-skullular eye roll, let me bring you in on some industry-speak.  If a business owner is deemed completely vital to his/her business operation by a bank -- say, he/she is the president and top salesman for a small consulting firm or contracting business -- then, among the necessary collateral needed for the loan, a bank might request an "assignment of life insurance".  This assignment essentially means that upon death of that person, the bank would receive an agreed amount of proceeds from a life insurance policy.  If I lost you in that, just know that the bank sees this particular person so necessary for the operation and success of the business, it wants all of its money back immediately should that person die.

I thought of this idea when I was listening to the sermon on meekness.  God calls us to live in a community; to know others and be known by them so as to be missed when absent.  But often I find myself seeking not to be loved and missed, but to be utterly crucial, especially concerning my vocation.  I sometimes honestly think that, should I die, the ceasing of my work, ministry, and life should disrupt God's hand in the world -- that God needs an assignment of life insurance for Jim Broyles to keep things afloat.

Christ teaches us here that our only promotion is for the name of God and His holy love.  Meekness diverts attention and points to truth.  God is progressing His kingdom -- live in light of the completeness of His word and His work.

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