Where Is Your Treasure?Sample

Money is God's rival in your heart

No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.

Money is the rival to God in the human heart. Our significance, our sense of worth, our sense of security and safety will be found in money and things, or they will be found in God. Which is first in your life: money or God? 

A related question: Are you generous, or are you greedy? Tim Keller, a writer and pastor in Manhattan, comments, “It is astounding that we live in the place we live, in the time we live, and we won’t think about the possibility that we’re greedy. That shows the power of greed. It shows the power of money.” Keller points out that hardly anyone thinks that they are greedy. This is why: We always find someone else who has a lot more money or stuff than we do, and we say to ourselves, “They’re greedy. Not me!”

We live in a country of great affluence. In fact, the United States has 6 percent of the world’s population and 50 percent of the world’s wealth. We have astronomical personal debt. And yet hardly anyone in our country feels they are greedy. Greed means that we’re always wanting more. More stuff, more things, and more money. Greed means I feel good about myself and I feel secure if I have money. Greed means I spend on self, accumulate for self, and focus on self. Greed is the opposite of generosity.

No wonder Jesus talked so much about money. It is the rival to God in the human heart.