I have said many times that what we truly believe is more evident in our actions than in our words. How we spend our time, talent, and treasures reveal the true intent of our lives. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Scripture deals with our use of finances several times. This is because our loving Lord knows how tempting it can be to allow our resources to govern our decisions. In the passage above, Jesus is making two important points. The first is that it is foolish to focus on acquiring stuff that will not be around in eternity. I love the modern parable of the man who enters heaven with a large bag of gold he has brought from this life. When St. Peter sees it, he takes it from him and says, “I will take this to our street department, they use it to fill potholes!”
The second point concerns an even greater danger. Jesus said that what we determine to be our most important treasure in this life will pull our hearts in that direction. (vs. 21) When the gathering of earthly resources takes more time and energy than my pursuit of godliness in Christ, my heart is going to learn to no longer desire pursuing Christ and will get more and more focused on the things of this life. This can be a subtle shift over time that we may not even be aware is happening. This is why Scripture gives us multiple warnings concerning the danger.
God is not saying that we cannot be godly men and have money. Nor is he saying that we should quit our jobs, sit on a mountain side, and meditate. It is about priorities. Money is not evil. It is our attitude toward the accumulation of resources that causes the problem. In his first letter to the young man Timothy, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:6-10. But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Money is not evil. The love of money is the core, or root of all evil. I have observed over time that regardless of the level of resources we have, most people desire more. This has been true in my own life. I once experienced a change in positions that meant an increase in pay of almost 50%. Since we were meeting our needs at the old rate, I believed we would be saving money like crazy with this large increase. However, over time, we discovered we were not much better off than before the raise. We had simply adjusted our lifestyle to spend the extra and did not even realize we were doing it. This is part of the trap Satan sets. Again, it is not about the amount of money we have nor even how much we spend, it is our priorities.
This adage is true, “To say yes to one thing means saying no to another.” When we say yes to the pursuit of more in this life, it takes time and energy away from saying yes spending time finding those things God may have for us. We need to be careful.
God loves us more than we could ever fathom. His desire is for us to have a fulness of life. He simply wants to be part of determining what a full life looks like. Our role is to be consistently evaluating our actions and attitudes to see where we place our pursuit of our Lord amid our striving to maximize our time, talent, and treasure.