There is a natural tendency we exhibit when seeking a way out of trouble, we endeavor to buy our way out. It’s as if we are hard wired with the notion that everything has a price thus, we keep a constant look out for “For Sale” signs. Our society has taught us that to every problem there must be a solution we can obtain through either work or purchase. If you work hard enough and long enough, you tell yourself you will get there. If that is not enough, then all you need is the right amount of money to make the right purchase, or the right connections to make the breakthrough, or simply to wait for the right time till things fall into place.
If peace of mind could be sold, who would have it for sale? If you are selling a house, I know what to expect when I request a viewing. It should preferably be laid on solid ground, built of sturdy material, have a floor, walls, ceiling and roof. It would also be nice if it has heating, running water and enough rooms for all the members of my family. A backyard big enough to have a garden would be a bonus. I am able to stipulate all of these properties pertinent for a house to be called a house as a result of my knowledge of what a house is supposed to have but most importantly because of my experience from having lived in a house before.
What properties must ‘peace of mind’ have for me to recognize it for what it is before I make a purchase? If I have never experienced it, or lived in it how would I know what to look for? The insurance business is founded on the principle of risk transfer for the purpose of gaining ‘peace of mind’ for the individual making its purchase. Anyone selling insurance today is in a nutshell selling peace of mind. Be it peace of mind in the event of your death where you are concerned with the financial upkeep of your loved ones, be it peace of mind as far as damage to your property or business, be it peace of mind as far as meeting your medical expenses in the event of your health failing, etc.
As an individual you purchase insurance to cover your house in the event of damage to it caused by fire, flood or earthquake. You will be charged a premium for covering these risks to your property in the event of such perils. In the event of damage to your house as a result of fire, low and behold, instead of a quick payment to cover your losses you get an assessor who comes in to investigate the cause of the fire.
They refer you to some fine print in the insurance contract the insurance salesman didn’t mention when he came peddling his wares. It could be your house is undervalued and you are now subject to the ‘average clause’ in which case you end up being paid a fraction of the repair costs required. It could be the wiring in your house was bad to start-off and needed regular maintenance which you did not perform so they activate a ‘breach of warranty’ which protects them from indemnifying you. It could be they believe there are reasonable grounds to suspect arson, and until their investigations are completed to exonerate you from the act you will have to be a destitute for a while. Is this ‘peace of mind’ you have bought?
Don’t get me wrong, I believe insurance is a good thing; the industry is one of the great pillars of any thriving economy. However, there are many things which people who purchase insurance are not aware of at the beginning that I believe they should be if they are to make an informed decision and gain some measure of, if not full peace of mind. Do I need to know what the pig I am eating had for lunch before I purchase some bacon? Of course not, but I do need to know if the bacon I buy might cause me to experience stomach cramps if it’s known that pigs that don’t have a good night’s sleep the night prior to slaughter give people who eat them stomach cramps. If you are selling ‘peace of mind’ then give me peace of mind, don’t give me something that falls way short of it and say it is just as good as the real deal.
Often, we are hooked by the world, told this is what we are looking for, when in fact that is far from what we want or need. Like fish on a hook, it becomes difficult to disentangle ourselves once we have taken the first bite which usually proves fatal. Someone else will define it for us and describe the “house of peace” they have built for themselves and tell us this is what we are looking for. The lost are leading the lost to the kingdom of the doomed.
We are to blame for such a predicament since we rely on secondhand information supplied by others. Often, we occupy the seat of fear in undertaking our own voyage of discovery, and hope that others will make the journey instead to return with tales of what they found. We place our trust in them and hope that their tales are the unblemished truth, such that when they draw maps and describe the giants they saw, they reflect reality. Hence the decision to leave the comfort of our couches and undertake such a voyage ourselves is based on our perception of the worthiness and likelihood of fruits yielded from such an endeavor. Oftentimes the maps are hard to read and the giants are the Canaanites to the Israelites.
If I want to know what a house looks like, I seek out an architect. If I want to know what peace looks like, I seek the “Prince of Peace”. He has drawn, designed and made it, and no one else besides Him carries the blueprints. No amount of reverse engineering can bring us to such a house, we enter by Grace not “Purchase”.
“..He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”