Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13

I remember a co-worker I had as a teenager. We called him Devo. Slow times allowed us to talk a lot. One of his favourite topics was the amount of credit he had through his credit cards. It filled him with a sense of power and control to know that he could go out that weekend and spend $35000 and no one could stop him. It was an early wakeup call for me. Making a priority out of trusting and serving Jesus Christ was going to be challenged by the allure of trusting and serving money and what money could buy.

The world is not the way it is supposed to be. Sin is a perversion of all that God called very good at creation. We experience its pollution, its corruption, at every level. Sin is a parasite. The devil cannot create anything good but only twist what God has made. So it is with greed. Greed is good desire gone wrong, taking the good gifts and good opportunities that God has given us and making them ultimate.

Interesting, isn’t it, that the writer to the Hebrews ends his masterpiece on the person and work of Jesus Christ with an exhortation about money. That should tell us something about our vulnerability here: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Suggestions for prayer

“When Thy blessings come I begin to idolize them, and set my affection on some beloved object – children, friends, wealth, honour; Cleanse this spiritual adultery…close my heart to all but Thee” – The Valley of Vision: A Cry for Deliverance

This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. Rev. Mark Stewart serves the Burlington URC in Burlington, WA.