Matthew 6:24-33 (RSV) 24 "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 mammon. 26 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
Jesus
speaks directly to how we view money when He says we cannot serve God and
mammon. Mammon may have been a Babylonian god, and in Jesus’ day mammon was a
nickname for money and wealth, referring to the power of money. Jesus said,
“You cannot serve God and mammon.” Do we believe Him? I am not sure we can
always recognize when we are trying to serve both God and mammon. Money has a
way of sneaking into our life so slowly that almost unconsciously we come to
depend on it rather than on God. “Do not be anxious,” Jesus said. The word
literally means “torn apart.” And that is what happens when we try to serve God
and mammon. When worry and conflict over money enters our life, it is a symptom
of a divided heart. Worry and conflict about money is a red flag over our life
warning us that something is wrong in our spirit. We are split and divided in
our devotion.
You cannot serve
God and mammon. It is not a command. It is simply a statement of fact. Faith is
a confidence in God that believes the promises of God. Little faith means that
our confidence is not big enough to include money. This little faith is an
inner attitude. It is a mind-set that colors not only the way we see God but
the way we see money.
A faith that is big
enough is simply one that includes confidence in God in the way we deal with
money. This is the confidence we see in Jesus. He lived freely and openly,
without anxiety over money. He did not grasp at the things money could buy but allowed
those gifts to come to Him as God intended. Do we have a faith big enough to
include God in the management of our money for His glory and for our soul’s
satisfaction? It is not an easy task but it is not a worrisome task either. If
we are going to use a lot of energy over money how better to use it than
seeking God’s guidance.
From a sermon
preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 31, 1993
© Rhonda Hinkle
Mitchell
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