Home » Archives » 15. March 2010
Beyond Sunday: Our MONEY as WORSHIP
March 15, 2010
Throughout history, money has been regarded as one of the most important tools of success along with hard work. And so it is not surprising that even the Bible teaches us important lessons on this matter. In fact, in the scriptures, the word ‘money’ is mentioned up to 2000 times as compared to the word ‘faith’ which is only up to 500 times. Why is that so?In Matthew 6:19-21,
“Do not 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, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus teaches us how our perception towards money influences our lifestyle to the extent of taking our faith for granted for the sake of wealth. It is in Matthew that Jesus throws an implicit question of, ‘how can you worship God, if your heart is improperly placed?”
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.
Matthew 6:24
A.W. Taser once said “ it doesn’t take large quantity of money to come between us and God, just a little, placed in the wrong position to obscure the new”
Ever wonder why mo
ney in that verse starts with a capital letter? It was not a typographical error. It was meant to be written that way. That was to emphasize that the greatest hindrance that could come between us and God , is not the devil, but money. In the king james translation of the bible, that same verse ends with the sentence “You cannot serve both God and mammon”. Now, who is mammon? Mammon is the Aramaic god of the babylonians who deceived the people into thinking that they do not need God and that they can surpass His powers. Mammon is the god who founded pride and arrogance. In the early times the babylonians shout out ‘I don’t need God I can reach God, I don’t need His help” that ‘s why they tried to build the tower of Babel. Now if we look at the context and apply it today , surprisingly it perfectly fits the status quo. People are deceived into thinking that money is the answer to all the problems in the world. That they do not need to have a faith and all they need instead is wealth. The proof? It is ubiquitous. You can hear a lot of people utter the phrases “ I wish I had more”,” If only I have more money” and the like. Yes, it is impossible to worship both God and money but looking at a deeper analysis, sadly, it is now possible to serve money instead of God.
Now how to check if we are already having the wrong perception about money. Here are some questions that could help you gauge how far have you gone for money:
1. do you think about money a lot
2. do you fight about money a lot in your family
3. do you sacrifice your priorities in order to gain money
4. is it hard for you to give money away
5. are you in big debt?
Now that you already know your status, you might now ask, ‘what then can I do with my money? Give it away so I won’t be addicted to it? Donate it to the church? Give it to charity?” There could be many ways on how to do this but we should remember one important thing: never did Jesus ask money from us. God is not after our money. He is vigilant not because he wants to grab a hold of us but because he was keeping money from getting us. This has been proven many times, thousands of years ago when the Lord saved the israelites from Egypt. In Exodus 12:35-36
The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
The LORD had made the Egyptians favourably disposed towards the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
When the israelites got freed from bondage, the Lord allowed them to get whatever they want from the Egyptians. Those were the wealth and riches of the land of Egypt. And historians say that if they will compute all the gold and riches the israelites had during their exodus, it would amount to an overwhelming amount of $79 M. But the irony is, though they had the money, they spent 40 years in the wilderness and never did they spend a single cent yet they had their daily supply of food, clothes and sandals. That is the power of our living GOD. He is able to provide for all our needs. He is able to give the desires of our hearts if only we listen and understand His message to us. God is telling us,
“Yes I want you to be prosperous, but I am the one who will provide, not money”
This is the reason why we must put our whole TRUST not to money but to GOD. Lastly, in Prov. 3:9a,
Honor the Lord with your wealth,.
Worshipping God involves honoring Him with our wealth.
