How often do you compare
what you have and how much you make to others?
Do you develop resentment
when you feel you're worth more than you are paid?
How much anxiety do finances
add to your life?
What is your attitude toward
giving?
These sorts of questions
reveal whether the god of power in the form of money has infiltrated the throne
room of our hearts. The Bible talks regularly about money because throughout
time, money equals power. Money means control. It means we can dictate how our
lives are lived and the quality of them. Too often the pursuit of happiness
often means the pursuit of money. Yet we fail to acknowledge one important
fact: "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world,
and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1). When we approach money from the
perspective that it belongs to us, it turns into something that it is not. They
key to keeping money in its right place is to remember that it all belongs to
God. Whatever we have is on loan from God.
And when we begin worrying
about the things of this world, becoming obsessed with money and the security
it brings, then it has become a god for us. Look around and you will see this
to be true for a lot of people: Capitalism is religion. Banks are churches.
Bankers are priests. Wealth is heaven. Poverty is hell. Rich people are saints.
Poor people are sinners. Commodities are blessings. Money is God. The biblical
authors consistently portray money as God's chief competition. Jesus' solution
is simple:
“Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves
break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth
and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
Close your time with this
prayer:
"Two things I ask of
you, O Lord; do not refuse me
before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far
from me;
give me neither poverty nor
riches, but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too
much and disown you and say,
'Who is the Lord?'
Or I may become poor and
steal,
and so dishonor the name of
my God." Proverbs 30:8-9
