The Bottom Line
At my job, I spend most of my days studying and preparing spreadsheets, reports, proposals, budgets, payrolls, and projections. Most of my work centers around the almighty dollar and its little children, cents. I think about money all week long, and a passing observer of my computer screen could easily conclude my main motivator is the bottom line.
As much as I pretend that wealth is unimportant to me, my tendency to hoard money gives me away. The warnings in 1 Timothy often elude me:
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Tim 6:9-10 CSB)
Like a monster, money-love creeps its way under our pillows when we are young and soon tries to smother us, never letting us breathe until we die. It’s a false god, an idol by nature, demanding our worship and nothing less. Did you know the word “money” comes from an ancient Roman goddess? Once an idol grabs hold of a man he becomes blind to its grip, as Isaiah explains:
He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it, ‘Save me, for you are my god.’ Such people do not comprehend and cannot understand, for he [God] has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their minds so they cannot understand. (Isa 44:17-18 )
But we can’t really cast away money or ignore it. It’s part of life; a universal key that unlocks every door in the world. So what are we to do? Like it or not, we are stuck with it, and therefore must heed Jesus’s warning carefully:
No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matt 6:24)
Somehow, we must hold money in our hand and not be its servant. We have to figure out how to not treasure it. It seems like an impossible task, which is why the rich young ruler went away sad in Matt 19. It’s also why Jesus explained to his observers, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19:26)
The bottom line is that our hope is in Christ alone. We must open our hands to him, and if money falls out, we have faith our Savior will ensure our security. It is a wise practice to unclench our grip of money regularly, which is one reason we take an offering at church. Giving to the kingdom mission of the church is an opportunity to take the smothering pillow away from our faces for a moment of fresh air.
I encourage you, with prayer and discipline, to practice trusting Jesus with your money. You will be storing up treasures in heaven, giving cheerfully as 2 Cor 9:7 says:
Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.
