Daily Devotions
“You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matthew 6:24
Headlines often feature economic news about unemployment, inflation, or the stock market. We rejoice or weep, feel relieved or worried, based on the news as it affects our pocketbook. Who says the Bible doesn’t speak to the issues of today? Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount makes the point in clear-cut terms: “You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Mammon is the Aramaic word for material possessions. Unfortunately, many people trust in mammon or money like a god. Depending on the situation, trusting money leads either to self-seeking greed (wanting more) or to worry (being anxious about food, drink, and clothes).
While money has a legitimate use as a gift entrusted to us by God, we must not put our trust in it. Money can easily gain a stranglehold on us. We end up serving money instead of God. The root sin is unbelief.
Serving God means regarding Him as the Pearl of Great Price, worth everything we have. Instead of self-seeking, Kingdom-seeking. Instead of worry, trust in God’s promises. Serving God means using our money for Him – joyfully, sacrificially, expectantly.
With the choice clear between serving money and serving God, we confess our self-seeking greed and faithless worry. Who can help us? The God who asks us to serve came to us in the form of a servant. Jesus Christ refused Satan’s offer of worldly kingdoms and chose to serve the Father. He went to the cross. “Though He was rich … He became poor, so that [we] through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Made God’s children in Baptism, we now serve Him each day as He freely supplies faith to replace our worry, and Kingdom-seeking to replace our self-seeking.
PRAYER: Dear Father, transform our greedy, anxious hearts pursuing money into serving, trusting hearts seeking only You, through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)