ICS Daily Devotions
You Cannot Serve God and Mammon
Joshua 24:2: And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
We will serve and worship whoever we deem as god in our lives. It need not necessary be an idol made of clay in order for it to be a god in our lives. For instance, there are many people who treat mammon as their god, whether it is knowingly or unknowingly.
Nobody is able to serve two masters at one time. We can only be loyal to one. There is a tendency for us to pierce ourselves with many sorrows if we love money. The love of money is the root of all evil. For example, there are doctors who overprescribed medicine or treatment just to make money. There are doctors who only recommend certain kind of medicine to patients because the profit margin is higher for that medicine. It doesn’t mean that it is the best medicine for the patients. When they get discovered, their medical license may be revoked. There are sorrows that will come upon their lives and their families. They have compromised their ethics as doctors. They might have started studying medicine with the desire to help patients but the love of money has caused them to stray away from their values and principles.
The love of money has caused Christians to wander away from their faith! They felt that they wanted to succeed at all cost without God and that they could not be part of the church. One of the reasons for this kind of thinking is due to the fact that the church has an unspoken belief that all rich and successful Christians are worldly. We tend to think that talking about being successful as a Christian is wrong. God doesn’t mind if you have money or even be rich! Remember, Jesus said that it is possible for someone to be rich to enter into the Kingdom of God because with God all things are possible. He just doesn’t want money to become your God just like the rich young ruler was not able to give up everything to follow God. Money was having a hold over his life. God brought the Israelites into a land filled with milk and honey. It was a land of abundance. Therefore, it is never about money or possession but rather about the heart of men whether they are worshipping God or material goods.
If being successful and influential in society is wrong then God must have made a mistake with Joseph, Abraham, Lot, King Solomon, Daniel, and even Jesus. Jesus had someone who held the purse for ministry. It was Judas Iscariot who stole money from Jesus! Jesus wasn’t a poor minister in the gospel. Every home needs money. Money is neutral but it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Both the rich and poor can have the love for money. We will need to choose to believe that either God is the source of our provision or the god of this age is the one who makes us rich.
Matthew 4:9-10 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
The devil offered Jesus the world and everything in it if Jesus was to bow down and worship him. There are people bowing down to mammon and the god of this age just to be rich. But there is always a price to pay when we bow down to the devil. It is bondage that leads to sorrow. We are to worship God and serve Him.
As Christians, our values should be God first, family second, and career third. If we are to make decisions based on this sequence then everything should be in the right balance. Unfortunately, it is not always the case for a believer if the sequence is reversed where career comes first, then family and God. Then it is also a danger that we will give mammon a prominent place in our lives. Instead, however, let us be inspired by the words of Jesus and make a proper balance between our service for God and career. Be rich in God!
Sermon Series: Reflection and Choices
