Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
Everyone uses money, and we use it for just about everything – food, clothing, a place to live, transportation, entertainment, communication, energy, you name it. Therefore, if the kingdom of God affects how you live, it should affect how you view and handle money. In fact, if you are a Christian and you view and handle money no differently from the world, the kingdom of God has not yet captured your heart. How you relate to money is a good barometer for how you relate to God.
We, thus, need to talk about money, for the Bible talks about it. A lot. So over the next several blogs, I want to talk about topics like greed and contentment, poverty and riches, debt and investment. In other words – money. Today will be a general intro.
Because many earthly items depend on money, we all know we need some amount of it. We need to eat and to live somewhere. We need clothing for our bodies and heat in the winter. We need some type of transportation and some medical care. All of these needs come through money. Thus, money, itself is not evil. In most instances, it is how God provides our needs. And our Father knows our needs (Mt 6:31-2).
The normal way God provides the money for our needs is through work. Honest work is a good thing. God has ordained it to be the means for our provision. He told Adam that man would eat bread by the sweat of his face. We work. We earn money. We eat. That is how God intends earth to operate for now.
Thus, money is not itself evil. People err when they judge others purely on the basis of their bank accounts. Poor people are not more spiritual just because they are poor, and rich people are not necessarily corrupt because they are rich. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Nehemiah, Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea were all wealthy, but I dare say we will see them in the kingdom. And many who live in poverty reject Jesus and live for themselves. On the flip side, riches are not a sign of righteousness nor poverty a sign of unrighteousness. James says of the rich, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you . . . the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you.” (5:1,4). Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, and more all have had great wealth but spiritual poverty. And many who are poor flock to Jesus because in their poverty they more clearly see their need. Sometimes riches have a way of blinding us to our weakness. So money itself doesn’t tell you anything about someone’s spiritual state or character. Money itself is merely a tool. However.
Money is still quite dangerous. The danger of money lies not so much in the money but in our hearts. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Make no mistake. Scripture is abundantly plain that you and I must guard our hearts against money. For many people, money is their idol, their God. They live as if their purpose in life is to make money, as if God created them just so He could give them stuff. For these people (and there are many of them) money eats away their soul. They have traded their soul for earthly riches. It’s like Esau trading his birth right for a bowl of stew.
And Christians are not immune to the dangers of money. Money can steal your peace and joy. Money can come between you and God. Money can render your ministry ineffective. Money is ever calling you to look away from God and to the “good life” here. It calls you to compromise a God focus so that you can have that three-bedroom house on the lake.
The overwhelming emphasis of the Bible’s teaching on money is not on its moral neutrality but on its danger to the soul. If we run around convincing ourselves that it’s OK to love money because money is not sinful, we have already lost the battle. Here’s how Paul put it:
“. . . those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (I Tim 6:9-10)
Jesus put it this way: “You cannot serve God and money” (Matt 6:24).
So then. Put your eyes on Christ. Love Him. Work your job. Provide for your family. Be content in Christ with what you have. Don’t look for great riches. If they come, be grateful to God who gave them and be generous to the work of the kingdom and to those in need. But keep your heart free from money, for if you don’t, it will destroy your soul without your even being aware of it.
