Money always competes with God for first place in our hearts. It’s right there in Matthew 6:24, “You cannot serve both God and money” (CSB).
Writer Andy Crouch asks, “Isn’t it interesting that this is the one thing Jesus said we cannot serve alongside God?” He doesn’t mention sex or Caesar, but money. Crouch goes on to say that that’s because money offers us a power that not even Caesar has in at least three ways.
1. Money is fungible.
There’s your SAT word for the week. Fungible means that you can trade something for a number of other things. (You could say “trade-able,” but apparently that’s not what you’re supposed to say.) Money can buy you comfort, guarantee your security, and control favorable outcomes. It enables you to accomplish what you want done in the world, even without the support of others.
2. Money is countable.
At any point, you can know how much money you have. This isn’t true of other kinds of power. There’s no way to know, for instance, exactly how much power a CEO of a company actually has. Something about that level of precision lends money a unique sort of power.
3. Money is storable.
You can save it for later. Most power has to be exercised now, but with money, you can store it up, hold onto it, and use it whenever you want.
These three things give money a kind of possessive, enslaving power in your heart that not even Caesar has. Which is why God tells us that we can’t serve both God and money.
But it’s even worse. In Matthew 6:24, our modern Bibles translate that word as “money.” But in older translations, like the KJV, they use the word “Mammon.” Why?
In Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke in, “Mammon” is the word for money. But the New Testament is written in Greek, and when they translated it, they left “Mammon” in Aramaic because it’s not merely a word, it’s a name.
Mammon is not just a thing; it’s a personal power, a demonic power, one that comes into your heart with a will. As pastor John Mark Comer explains, believing lies is the devil’s primary strategy in our lives, and he defined demonic temptation as, “an idea with a will behind it.” A thought that forces its way into your mind and tries to take over. A thought like Mammon.
So how do we combat these lies? Comer says, with Scripture.
I recently took his advice and began to do that with one of the lies I believe about money. Like many of us, I’m tempted to believe that an abundance of money is the good life. Sure, I’ll give to look good or to fulfill obligations, but I don’t want to give in a way that threatens my material comforts or future security.
But what’s the truth? Jesus continues in Matthew 6, “Don’t 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 …” (vv. 19–20). The good life is not to be found through laying up treasures here but laying up treasures there.
So we’re faced with a simple call to believe. Do we actually believe that the good life is not a lot of money down here but laying up treasures up there? Do we trust God enough to give him our first and best, and then use whatever excess we have to lay up treasures in heaven, not here?
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