The Problem of Money – Part I
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:18-30
Key Verse: Luke 18:24a
When Jesus saw this, He said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
After seeing the title for this devotion, you might have thought “Jesus taught a lot on money.” And you would be right.
Someone said that Jesus taught on money more than He taught about heaven. There is good reason for that. Money has wrecked a lot of people’s chances of going to heaven.
The dangers of money are never ignored by Jesus because He wants you and everyone else to spend eternity with Him. The temptations that money present to us is the only temptation that is compared to our loyalty to God (Matthew 6:24).
No other temptation can replace Jesus as the Lord and Master of our lives like the love of money can. No matter how spiritual we become, we should read every teaching of Jesus on money with great attention. The evil one will never give up on trying to get you to make money your master; it is always a subtle transition.
Luke records a time when a rich religious leader came to Jesus asking how he could obtain eternal life. Jesus quoted some of the ten commandments and asked the man if he kept those. The man quickly said that he had kept those since he was young. Then Jesus told the man that there was one more thing he needed to do: “see all your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).
Suddenly this man become very sad because he was very rich. Jesus knew something about this man that no one else could know; money was his master! Money had become so important to him that he was willing to walk away from eternal life and that is exactly what he did.
What should we learn from this incident with this rich man?
Know that God doesn’t hate money, but He does hate what money can do to us. It can become so important to us that when we lose it, it can cause us to lose all hope. No better example of this is how many people jumped to their death during the great depression (from 1929-1933 the overall rate of suicide in this country reached its highest recorded rate).
Loving money to the point of basing our entire future happiness and hope on it is a recipe for disaster. Putting all our hope and joy in our relationship with Jesus is a recipe for eternal rewards and happiness. Where have you put your hope and trust?
Father, please correct me when my heart starts to make money more important than our relationship and my eternal rewards! I ask in Jesus’s Name, amen.