“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew6:24

Money is the number one competitor of our devotion to God. The Lord knows that the love of money and material things can easily distract our attention and focus on God. That is probably why there are more verses in the Bible that speak about money and possessions than those about prayer or heaven combined.

Pursuit of worldly wealth can be a consuming passion. Those who followed this route find themselves in an endless cycle of discontentment and wanting to have more. It is because the singular pursuit of wealth never brings true joy and satisfaction.

Mark Vincent in his book, A Christian View of Money: Celebrating God’s Generosity, writes:

Money has a godlike power. I think about it a lot. How and when I might get more of it. What I will do with it once I get it. How much of it I want to share. How much I want to keep for myself. What I would do with it if I suddenly came into a large amount. Money consumes my waking moments and shows up in my dreams.

Money has a tendency to overpower our lives. A biblical view on money and possessions can help the Christian to guard against this temptation. 1 Timothy 6:7-10 helps us put it in the right perspective. We brought nothing into this world and we certainly will carry nothing out.  Contentment is the key to secure against falling into the temptation to be rich and the snare of worldly riches. Paul exhorts us against foolish and harmful lusts which drown men and women into destruction and perdition. Verse 10 vividly warns us that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed away from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

It is good to remind ourselves of the incredible power of money. But it is only the power that we give to it. Do not allow money to rule your life. Money is a good servant but a tyrannical master.

We can choose to use money for our good and those of other people but we can also choose to use it for bad things and reap its destructive consequences.

A biblical view of money is one of stewardship. God who owns it expects His stewards to manage it wisely and faithfully. We are going to make a full accounting of all that the Lord has entrusted to our care when He returns.

In our journey as a steward, we want to come to a point when we can say that we have freedom from the love of money and worldly wealth. What a liberating thought!

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