Overcoming the biggest enemy of miraculous decision making
One of the most startling verses I have ever read in life is – Matthew 6:24 where Jesus Christ said “No one can have two masters … you cannot serve both God and money” (NIV). I was astonished by this verse because I was expecting to read something like “you cannot serve both God and the devil”. So finding money take such a position was surprising. I later gained better understanding of this concept of the wrong attitude towards money in I Timothy 6:10 (NIV) – “for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”.
What is the “love of money” and why did Jesus Christ place serving money as the major hindrance to serving God?
Serving God involves living a life that pleases Him and doing what He wills. It means allowing God to control your time, decisions and actions. When you serve God, your biggest passion is about having more of God’s attributes in your life.
Serving and loving money is the complete opposite; it involves living a life obsessed with the accumulation of money in the pursuit of pleasure. It is a desire to pursue money primarily for your usage, identity and security. Money is neither moral nor immoral. It is our attitude towards money that matters. That is why the “love of money” (not just “money”) is what the bible talks about as a root of all kinds of evil, and this is the biggest enemy to making miraculous decisions.
How do you know if you are currently plagued with the ‘love of money’ disease? Some of the symptoms include lying, stealing, gambling, cheating, corruption and murder in an attempt to gain more of it. Many people today do all these and even more to increase their potential to get more money. However, the love of money disease has more subtle symptoms – for instance, preaching, listening to or searching out money-making messages over other messages that will help or aid spiritual growth. Have you noticed that most messages in some Christian circles today are centred on money (or “making it)? A person’s prayer life is also a pointer – either there is insufficient time devoted to prayer due to work pressures (the job that brings money), or when we even pray, the prayer points are focused on what God needs to do to bless us materially. Even giving to the work of God primarily to receive more money or to avoid the devourer from touching what you already have is another symptom of the disease. A believer with a heart of genuine service to God gives because he loves God and His work, and not primarily to avoid devourers.
Let’s face it, the love of money has eaten deeply into today’s church, and that is why we do not make miraculous decisions or operate in the miraculous like God wants. The love of money will make you cruise in another realm that is far below the realm of the Spirit. It wants to make you operate at a disastrous level, when you should be at a miraculous level. Judas Iscariot made a disastrous decision to betray Christ because of the love of money; Paul made miraculous decisions because he dealt with this widespread weakness – for instance, rather than stay in Jerusalem where there were established structures and generous donations (like some pastors would do today), he went to the gentiles based on God’s leading. Today, we have a miracle in our hands – he wrote most of the New Testament books. At some point, he was taking donations to the churches in Jerusalem that initially had more money. Paul wrote to Timothy in I Tim. 6:17 “(KJVA) “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy”. Paul admonishes us to still put our focus and trust in God, no matter the material blessings we have.
Several years ago when I began to study this plague and how to overcome it, I stumbled on 2 passages that really helped me. Romans 12:21 talked about overcoming evil with good, while Luke 18:18 – 23 describes the story of a man who claimed to have kept all the commandments of God since he was young yet asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus told the man to sell all he had and follow him, the man went away sorrowful. If Jesus had given you a similar instruction, what would your response be? Can you give out all you have and start afresh with God? I recommend answering this question sincerely at least once every year.
I recently shared my experience in obeying God (and learning from Romans 12:21) by giving generously to support the ministry, how I set “giving goals” each year and how God has been helping me to fulfil the goals even if it means emptying my bank account. To my utmost surprise, within one week of discussing this, many brethren who attended that meeting came to ask me for money to the tune of over four million naira. Apart from reminding them that during the message, I said my account became empty for the particular example I shared, I became more aware of how deeply this plague had eaten into the body of Christ. It appeared that the message was lost and the money became the new focus. Please do not let it happen to you after reading this!
Leaders are often required to make challenging decisions that affect not just their destinies, but the destinies of several people they lead. When our hearts are saturated with the love of money, then all kinds of evil decisions that will indirectly destroy our lives and that of our followers will erupt. The Message translation of I Timothy 6:9-10 reads “But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time …” Let’s consciously address the ‘love of money’ in our lives so we can always make decisions that bring about positive and powerful events in our lives and those of our followers.
– Tope S. Aladenusi
