At Your Service?

Wednesday May 21, 2014

Matthew 6:19-24

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money."

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"You cannot serve God and money."

Money is a necessary but neutral commodity.  It's value is not only relative to the frequent sways of the markets and economy, but also relative to how much we invest ourselves in it.  Money can be used for good or evil, for blessing and cursing.  However, when money ceases to serve us (and us in service to the Kingdom) and we begin to serve it, it becomes not only a usurping idol but a jailer of the most despotic and despicable kind.  Rightly did Jesus say that the love of money--not money itself--is the root of all evil.  The love of money cripples our moral compasses.

In our society, loving money is very easy to fall into. We’re constantly bombarded with messages trying to make us unsatisfied.  What are our motivations for wanting more and more? Security, luxuries, status? Are any of these worldly things worth closing ourselves off to a relationship with God who loves us?  If you are generous and cheerful about giving; if you don't hoard your wealth or possessions;  if you try to live simply without excessively accumulating "stuff"; if you're not inordinately worried about money; and if you actively give to those less financially fortunate, you probably have a healthy relationship to money.    However, if the inverse of these are true, one has to ask, "Who is serving who."