Modern Idols: Devotions From Time Of GraceSample

The idol of money

All of us work to make money (or if unemployed would very much like to work to make money). How is it possible to pursue financial gain, though, without money then becoming our master? Aye, there’s the rub, as Hamlet said.

Money is not evil in and of itself. It is just a tool. But it also represents portable power, the ability to get other people to do things for us. Money-love can be as addictive and enslaving as any narcotic. I can sure see and smell materialism in other people--when I see friends with maxed-out credit cards or others obsessed with day trading, bingo, the slots, and online poker, for instance. Respect its seductive appeal! “Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Proverbs 11:4).

I’m a little less sharp in detecting materialism in myself, and so I need to listen to the people God put around me. Not a single investment, not a single dollar, will make a bit of difference to my destiny on judgment day. The only asset from my personal balance sheet that I can take with me is the righteousness I have from Jesus Christ.

Whatever money I have right now really belongs to God, and it needs to be used according to his agenda. When I am generous with him, when I take care of my family and help other people first, I can then be trusted to spend on myself.