I grew up poor and now I'm finally making money, but I feel anxious about losing it all. Why?

“And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”

Moses spoke these words to a generation about to move from wilderness poverty into abundance. His warning was prescient: prosperity often produces a kind of amnesia about where the capacity to earn came from. For people who grew up with nothing, the anxiety of losing wealth is real and often driven by the memory of scarcity. Remembering the source of provision is a corrective to both amnesia and anxiety.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus is diagnosing a heart condition, not giving budgeting advice. Anxiety about losing money often reveals that money has become the thing our security is resting on. The solution he offers is not to stop earning but to invest in things that cannot be lost. This is about where you are anchored, not how much you have.