Money is a necessary part of life, but how we manage money reveals much more than how well we handle our finances—it reveals what has first place in our hearts. Jesus made this clear when He encountered a wealthy young man who wanted to know how to inherit eternal life. The man had followed the commandments, but Jesus knew his heart was attached to his wealth. His story challenges us to ask an important question: Who is really in control of our money—us or God?
Money Reveals our heart
Mark 10:17-27 relates the story of a wealthy, religious young man who asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life.
The man in this story was a ‘good’ living man; he told Jesus that he had kept all the commandments that Jesus listed. Jesus, knowing his heart, knew exactly what was more important to this man than following after him. Jesus knew that this man was wealthy and that his heart was tethered to his money, his treasure. So Jesus tells him to sell all that he has and give it to the poor and he will have treasures in heaven.
This was not something he was willing to do! He went away sad and as far as we know, he never changed his mind.
Jesus also said, it is very difficult for a rich person to enter heaven.
So what is the problem with money?
Money isn't evil; loving it more than God is
Obviously, money is necessary for living and we can use it for good purposes.
The problem the rich young man had wasn’t that he was wealthy. The problem was that he loved his money more than he loved God and he was not willing to obey Jesus in this.
I Timothy 6:10 says:
The LOVE of money is the ROOT of all kinds of evil.
Many people struggle with their relationship with money.
In the following 2 passages we receive teaching about the good use of money and the dangers of money.
Storing up money
Matthew 6: 19-21
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. [21] Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
In Luke 12:14-21 NLT, Jesus warned against greed and measuring your value by how much you own. He told the story of a man who had such a great crop one year that he did not have enough room to store it. Instead of thinking of sharing it, the man decided to build bigger storage barns to hold it so that he could take life easy! BUT God said to him, “you fool, you will die this very night.”
Christians and non-Christian’s do struggle with wanting more and more stuff, more things, bigger, better…it boils down to covetousness.
As in the passage above, we can easily develop what I call “Bigger Barn Syndrome”—always wanting more, bigger and better, while forgetting that everything we have ultimately belongs to God.
As Matthew 6:20 teaches us, we can not take our money or anything with us when we die but we can send it on ahead! We can have treasures in heaven!
Pastor Filippone, Indian Rocks Baptist Church, shares from these passages of scripture the following important truths about money and our relationship with it.
God calls us to steward money for His purposes
Money is not about money. It is a gauge that shows us what is going on in our heart.
- God is the owner of everything
- God made us managers /stewards of the money He allows us to manage.
- God has a plan for our use of money: Give first, Save, Live on the rest.
- We give because God gave everything.
In Malachi 3:10-15 God promises to bless His children as we give Him back to Him what He has given to us to manage. He goes so far as to ask us to ‘test’ Him in this.
I can personally testify to God’s faithfulness in taking care of our every need over many years now as we consistently gave back to His work, His service. He does not promise to give us everything we ‘want’- sometimes what we want is not good for us!
If we choose to be obedient to God and steward His money wisely, we will support our local church financially and with our service and….
- We will give cheerfully,
- We will tithe regularly
The problem is not that we have riches but that riches possess us.
So consider the following ways of giving and the benefits we reap from giving- found in this article The Life of Giving-The Benefits
Sending your treasures on to Heaven
What Can we Give?
We can give money, time, prayers and worship. And we can give, counsel, friendship and ourselves- our hearts, minds and souls.
Benefits of Giving
- Brings order to your life and finances.
- Demonstrates that God has first place in your life.
- Stretches your faith.
- Reminds you that you are not in control, but God is.
- Celebrate when lives are changed.
- You get to model for your kids what Biblical stewardship looks like.
- Play a part in getting the gospel out around the world.
- Breaks the grip of greed and selfishness in your life.
- Opportunity to invest in something much bigger than yourself that will last much longer than you.
- Discover that you can never out-give God!
Don’t miss out on God’s blessing – follow His design for managing the money He has given you to steward!
Send your treasures on ahead to Heaven!
Hola! I’ve been reading your website for some time now and finally got the bravery
to go ahead and give you a shout out from New Caney Tx!
Just wanted to say keep up the great job!
Thanks for reaching out Hazel, means a lot to me:) I trust that God will use what He speaks to me for others as well.