GOD? OR MAMMON?

Publish date: 06/25/2005

Jesus says that a person cannot serve these two masters—God and mammon. Mammon is riches, money, possessions, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely. You cannot love God and love mammon. You cannot trust in mammon and trust in God at the same time. God and mammon are diametrically opposed to each other and you will always end up choosing one over the other. When you choose to serve one you are in effect rejecting the other. Nobody can avoid this choice. Every single person on the earth makes the choice either for God or their stuff and they do it by their actions.

The Pharisees were supposed to be spiritual leaders, but they were covetous—they did not love God anywhere near as much as they loved money. They were angry at Jesus because He spoke the truth, exposing their sin. Your reaction—negative or positive—to a spiritual truth always exposes your heart attitude.

Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not,[I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down ( relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] Hebrews 13:5 AMP

If you do not trust God to take care of you and supply your needs, you will be clinging to your mammon for dear life. If you trust in mammon it is because you either do not know the promises of God or you do not believe God's promise to supply what you need and to take care of you. If you truly trust in God, then you will not be dependant on money or possessions—it makes no difference to you whether you have any in your hands or not—you know that God will still take care of you and meet your every need on a daily basis.

So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God). Colossians 3:5 AMP

Covetousness is idolatry—the worship of money and stuff instead of God. 1 Timothy 6:10 AMP says that, "the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs." Covetousness will cause you to sin—to be jealous of what others have, to steal from them, to lie, and even to kill. The devil wants to control and destroy you and if he can get you to make mammon your idol, he can do both!

Luke 12:15 AMP says, "And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man's life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs."

Covetousness distorts your perception and causes you to reject God and His Word in your endless pursuit of possessions. You don't realize that the most important thing you need is eternal life—and this you can only get from God—money cannot buy salvation! The devil knows this and this is why he tries to fill you with arrogance and with fear—so that you will keep your focus on your stuff and trust in your stuff and neglect to pursue God—the only One Who holds the key to heaven and your freedom. The only way for you to break free from covetousness and to begin enjoying all God's blessings is to start cheerfully giving and never quit!