This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s Message: I Love my church…Love in Giving (WATCH HERE).
Do you love money?
For followers of Christ, the quick answer is, “Of course not.” Of course the new nature that God’s Spirit has worked in you quickly responds, “I don’t love money.” Praise God for this.
But what about the sin nature that resides in you?
If we dismiss the possibility of loving money, we quickly fail to recognize the very real spiritual battle that is at war in our hearts.
Our sinful nature LOVES money and wants that reality to permeate and influence all you do. It seeks to override the Spirit-given nature and consume us with a love for money.
But it’s sneaky and deceptive.
Loving money is not something we necessarily wake up and say, “Wow, I really love money and can’t wait to get more.”
Loving money shows up in subtle ways.
Loving money gets us to think we can love both money and God at the same time. It says I can prioritize my career right now to make the extra dollars and then when I gain the raise I will focus on the Lord more.
Loving money shows up by getting us to worry about tomorrow and inflation and the stock market and our 401k’s and our mortgage and everything related to money. The love of money keeps our hearts at unrest because we are always concerned about having enough.
Loving money shows up when obtaining one income level just leads to us thirsting for the next raise, sacrificing family time, our physical health and our time in church to pursue it.
Loving money makes bargains with God to assume “He will understand” this season of life.
But here’s the reality.
Money is a lying master. Whatever narrative it is playing in your mind, probably is deceiving you. Consider these truths the Bible puts forward:
Having all the wealth in the world is not the greatest profit.
Matthew 16:26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Loving money never is satiated…you never have enough.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.
Loving money leads to other sins…deception, fraud, white lies and more. Loving money can gain material things but lead us to lose the faith that gives us the eternal treasures of heaven.
1 Timothy 6:9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
To be clear, money is not evil. Remember this is a heart issue, a heart battle. The LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Serving money as our first priority leads us away from the love of God.
The love of money is a sin to repent of and rejoice that Jesus died for it too. But to be sure, the love of money is a strong temptation we should never dismiss or underestimate.
Apply: Where and how does the love of money creep into your heart?
Prayer: Lord, forgive me for when my heart is captivated by the love of money. Forgive me and restore my focus on what is truly valuable and eternal – life with you. AMEN.