“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” Col3:5
What is idolatry? It is to worship another god. To have another god besides God. This verse tells us that covetousness is idolatry. When we covet, we worship another god. We replace almighty God with someone or something else. We pursue mammon. We pursue materialism and by extension we become our god and pursue and seek ourselves, our needs, our lusts and our pleasure. Self-aggrandizement becomes our focus.
To covet simply means the desire to have more. The original sin of Adam and Eve involved covetousness. They wanted more than the perfection God had given them. They were not content with what they had.
Many of us would never bow down to a statue or worship a tree or some image. And yet every single day we worship money and what it can buy. Money is our number one priority. We build our entire lives around it. We wake up every morning to serve it. We serve it the whole day without relenting.
We can forget to pray, we can forget to seek God but we can never forget to go to work. We are usually too tired to pray or go to church or to spend some time with God because we spend all our energy seeking money and what it can do for us. By the time we are done working for money we have no more energy to do anything else. This is a tragedy.
Most Christians give God left over time. They only pray or seek God after they have done everything they wanted to do. After mammon has been served and his belly is full. Only then will they spend a few minutes in prayer or in the Word of God.
Many of us can never miss a work appointment, or a test or assignment at school. We are always there and right on time. But not so with prayer or with the Word. When we are tired we simply postpone, God understands that we are tired. We shall pray tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes we are too tired. Something else is number one priority. Something else is most important. Money. We love money more than we love God.
If we loved God as we say we do, we would find time. He would be our top priority. We would be willing to lose a job or fail in school but have a good relationship with God. We would put premium value on our prayer and study time. We would put premium value on our relationship with God. If anything we seek takes priority over our seeking God and His Kingdom, then we are in covetousness and idolatry.
How we relate to money determines who is in the centre of our lives. If we are pursuing an intimate relationship with God and His Kingdom more than we are pursuing money then God is the centre of our lives. If we are pursuing money more than we are pursuing an intimate close personal relationship with God and His Kingdom then money is the centre of our lives. Mammon is our god.
In other words, if your job or business or family or husband or wife is more important than your relationship with God, mammon is your god. If you spend more time, focus, attention and energy on making money, working a job, running a business, running a ministry than you spend thinking on God and communing with God in His Word, mammon is your God. I know this is hard but it is true. It’s tight but it’s right.
THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES
Mark4 18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Riches themselves don’t mess us up. It is the deceitfulness of riches which chokes the Word and hinders us from fruitfulness. Riches are not the issue. It is the deceitfulness of riches. What is the deceit that comes with money?
1. Money will make you happy.
This is not true and money will never make truly you happy. Money can give you a natural temporal happiness that is based on circumstances. Rich people have this kind of happiness because generally their circumstances are good. However if their circumstances were to change as we have seen happen before the same happy people commit suicide or get depressed. Why? Because their happiness was a false happiness that was dependent on their good circumstances. Only God will give you true happiness and contentment. And this will be there no matter the circumstances.
2. That money will give you value and worth.
This is a false sense of value and worth which leads to pride. You become high minded and think you are better than other people. You look down on poor people.
3. That money will give you security.
This is false security. Many people put their trust and faith in uncertain riches. Every material thing in this world is uncertain. Here today gone the next day.
Deuteronomy 8
16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; 17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Many of us have more confidence in ourselves to meet our needs than we have in God to meet them.it is why we work very hard so that we are able to provide for ourselves. Only then can we spare some time for God. After we have taken care of ourselves. After we have gone to work. After we have finished school. After we have finished our chores and tasks. The truth is we don’t trust God to take care of us.
18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
But remember. God says remember the LORD your God. It is He who has given you this power, this ability to get wealth. It is God who gives you the life, the opportunities, the favor, the blessing to work and get riches. It is God who enables you to go to work every morning. It is He who enables you to have work to go to every morning. Don’t forget Him now because you have a job. It will be to your detriment.
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