Trade Secrets

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Life is full of trade-offs, and knowing what not to trade may be the real secret.

My first trading experience was baseball cards in the ’50s and ’60s. A nickel would get you a handful of cards depicting baseball players and that signature stick of Bazooka bubble gum—a pink slab of heaven. The aroma of this gum is an instant nostalgic trigger. ‘Heaven’ lasted only a few seconds as the gum quickly lost flavor, but we still had the baseball cards. When we didn’t get the players we wanted, we could trade cards with others to get ‘our guys.’ These cards are still being traded; some can fetch millions of dollars!

In modern times, we trade stocks and bonds, real estate, art and other collectibles, currencies, cryptocurrencies, derivatives, draft picks, and sports players. Some say that working is simply trading hours for dollars. But that view misses the deeper spiritual and relational trades we make daily.

In a Biblical sense, a trade is a spiritual exchange where something temporal is given up in trust for something eternal, often revealing the heart’s true allegiance—whether in temptation, obedience, or covenant. Trading is in our DNA, with the first trade occurring in the Garden of Eden. That trade—the ultimate bad deal—traded truth for a lie.

I recently saw a YouTube video of Pastors Greg Laurie and Chuck Smith covering various topics. The occasion celebrated Chuck’s many faithful years as the founding Pastor of the Calvary Church movement. What caught my attention was Chuck’s comment about a trade. When confronted by personal tragedies, they shared how hard it was to wrestle with all the ‘Why’ questions. In those times, they said, the secret is not to trade what we know for what we don’t know.

There are many ‘why’ questions that will go unanswered on this side of eternity, but we know God is good, he loves us, and he will restore all that has been lost. The trade secret is to set our hearts and minds on what we know to be true, and to let go of the things we can’t know.

King David teaches a spiritual trading master class in the Psalms. ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ is from Psalm 22 and was a lament of Jesus as he hung on the cross. David doesn’t let the unanswerable have the last word. In his Psalms, we read transition phrases like ‘But God,’ ‘Yet God,’ ‘My God,’ followed by a truth about God’s nature and care for us. ‘The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.’ (Psalm 18:2) David trades what he doesn’t like about his circumstances for what he does know about God. A good trade!

Life is hard. At the beginning of each new day, with open arms, Jesus says, ‘Follow me.’ He invites us to trade our brokenness, sin, and shame for his righteousness, grace, and abundant life. The mother of all good trades.

Don’t give up what you know about God for what you don’t know about your circumstances.

“There are many ‘why’ questions that will go unanswered on this side of eternity, but we know God is good, he loves us, and he will restore all that has been lost.”

Run the play. Make good trades.

Watch a short interview clip with Chuck Smith and Greg Laurie: Clip

Finding Our Place in the Story

• What trades am I making each day—emotionally, spiritually, relationally?

• Where am I tempted to trade truth for comfort, or trust for control?

• What is one “good trade” I can make today to realign with what I know is true?