Dolla' Dolla' Bills, Ya'll

So much for me being faithful in posting thoughts about money. It's been too long. The problem I have in thinking about what Jesus said about money, is that I just think about it. I don't actually write stuff down, organize my thoughts, or actually form cohesive thought about it. Thus the lack of posts about this topic.

"No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money." -Matt. 6:24

I'd say this is just as good a starting place as any to look at what Jesus said concerning money. I guess the question we're left with is...how do you serve money? I think the answer is different from what we might give as a quick answer. Or maybe we should ask also, how do you serve God? Also in line are these questions: If you love money, why do you hate God? And if you love God, why do you hate money? This is what is presented to us in the aforementioned verse. If you serve money, you'll hate God...and if you serve God you will despise money. That is what I plainly read, anyway. So there is much to deal with concerning this passage.

Let's start with "If you love money, why do you hate God?": It seems there is two ways to do this. First, you can make money your sole object of affection; that is, money is what you are consumed by. Thus, if anything else threatens your affection for money, you hate it. If Jesus comes in making demands from you about money (as he did with the rich young ruler), you will hate him for that. Secondly, there is a more subtle way that I feel we are more prone to do; that is, one can use God as a means to get money. You worship as a means to become wealthy. If God is a means to ANYTHING, he is hated. If God is the route you take to get to some other ultimate end besides God, you have hated God. It is that simple. I am reminded of Jeremiah 2:12-13 -

"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

Therefore, perhaps we can apply the same reasoning when answering, "If you love God, why do you despise money?" If you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength as we are commanded (...which we all fail to do), you will hate money if it encroaches upon your desires for God. If money comes in and tempts you to give away any of your devotion, longing, or desire for Jesus, then you must hate it. When it comes to love for God, Jesus did not soften his message: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Here we see the strong language again. Are we to actually disdain our parents? Are we to loathe them? Are we to hold money-burning ceremonies to show our hatred for it? Or how about this: "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." Are we to literally cut off our hands? If so, the vast majority of Christians would be walking around without hands...as well as eyes. Without trying to make this easier to swallow, I do wish to interject a thought.
Jesus is serious about our affections for him versus everything else; we are not to give glory to anything else. We are not to be satisfied in anything else. Therefore, if any desire, including money, competes for our love for Jesus, we must take extreme measures. If we are tempted to follow money rather than Jesus in any decision, we must repent. If we look adoringly upon the security money offers us, we must flee from it. Money is to be held loosely, I think. "Do not store up treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal." Thus, if we love money, we hate God. If we love God, we hate money. I'd love to hear thoughts on this....

Next up: How do we serve money? How do we serve God?