Did you ever read Matthew 6:24 in the NIV? It says "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Why did God have to add those last seven words? It makes it so black and white. There is no in between. We will love God and serve God or love money and serve money.
Did you ever think that money always starts out neutral but never ends up neutral? It is either used by God to bring us closer to Himself or used by Satan to keep us away from God. This truth applies to both the excess of money and the absence of money.
Suppose that God blesses us with money. We can do two things with that money.
We can use that money the way God wants us to use it. We can use it to fulfill the Great Commission, help others or enjoy it ourselves according to God's plan. (1Timothy 6:17) As a result of using that money the way that God wants us to, our relationship with Him will be strengthened and we will be drawn closer to Him.
But that same money can be used to buy stuff and toys that have no eternal value. There is nothing wrong with these things until they take our attention away from God. Suppose that we are spending so much time on keeping up our nice house that we don't have time for church. Or suppose that our hobbies take away time from our family. Or suppose our business or job demands so much time that we don't have time for our personal time with God. Satan can use our money to divert our attention from the things of God.
Let's look at the other side; not having money. Just as having money, a lack of money can be used by God or Satan.
I have heard many testimonies of God's faithfulness when there was no apparent way to meet a need in a believer's life. God is faithful and He will use providing for our needs as a means of showing His faithfulness. If you have gone through this experience, I am sure you can give testimony to the fact that your relationship with Jesus Christ was strengthened as you had the privilege of first hand witnessing His faithfulness.
But what do most of us do when we think we need something and don't have the money? We go to our friendly bank or Credit Card Company and make the purchase on credit. The next thing we know, not only did we miss an opportunity for God to prove Himself faithful, but we find ourselves in the bondage of debt (Proverbs 22:7). The Bible is clear that we are to be in bondage to no one but Jesus Christ (Galatians 5:1).
Yes, unfortunately money may start neutral, but it doesn't stay that way too long. Just like Jesus said, we cannot serve God and money.
Monday, April 6, 2009
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2 comments:
I well remember Stanley Toussaint preach on that passage during a summer conference at Keswick. - He read "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." - Then he asked a question – “is that true?” – He then said “- imagine for a moment – what if Bill Welte and I both needed our fields worked on. – We didn’t have enough resources to get two, but we decided to partner up and hire Robert Hayes to work on our fields. We worked it out – Bill gets Robert on Monday-Wednesday, I get him Thursday – Saturday – we’ll give him Sunday off. – Will this work out? (asked audience at KESWICK) – they answered – “well, yeah it’d work”
Toussaint said, yes, that could work – so what is this verse saying? – He said that it doesn’t say anything about the nature of Slavery (ya, it’s possible to service two masters) – it’s about the nature of the Masters. Money and God have two very different agendas, they can’t cooperate – one of them has to be in charge. – I’ll never forget that – see Bill, I did pay attention in that booth every now and again :)
Thanks Sam, that is a great point. It is all about the nature of the master. God is pretty clear that He is a God that does not want to share His throne with money or any other master for that matter. (Exodus 20:5).
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