Too many people are slaves to money.  Money is not a very kind master.

7 Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (NIV),  and in the New American Standard Bible version, this verse reads  ”No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Money is the answer for everything.  Money solves a lot of problems, but very often, money is the problem.    That is because money motivates – motive is a huge trigger for everything else.  Motive is why we do everything we do, think everything we think. Even if you are anti-money (weird, but there are some people who will say so), then the aversion to money is still the motivation for everything that person says, does and thinks.

A Christian in Bondage to Money

In an instant message chat with a visitor to my site, here is a copy of the discussion we had:

Well I appreciate the concern.   As far as things in my life are concerned…i am loseing hope and loseing it fast.

Losing hope? Why? Don’t listen to that devil – he is a liar and he is the one making you feel that way.  Hebrew 13:5 Jesus says he will never leave us nor forsake us. He is a prayer away. Defy the enemy. Do not give him one inch in your heart and mind.

Well when your prayers seem to go unanswered, and you are told to keep holding on, just a little while longer, or that eventually blessings will come, and you dont see it happening. I have been waiting and holding on for so long and its always the same, the same struggles, bills pile up, finances suck! I cant get ahead! Im am sick and tired of people telling me to have hope, to wait. When does the future become the present?  Its like a carrot of hope and promise is being dangled in front of me and its just out of arms reach and unatainable! Im tired of barely getting by. Im tired of struggling and not being able to make ends meet. Im tired of being behind on bills. Im sick of life, im sick of hoping for things that may not happen.

There is a reason why the Bible talks about money so much. It has THIS power over us. We need to live to honor this verse ROMANS 13:8 OWE no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.  It is amazing how little we need to live if we owe no one anything.  Here is an article I wrote http://www.endmoneyproblemsnow.com/?s=start+from+where+you+are

Its that im tired of struggling and im tired of seeing those I care about struggling. Test and trials are suppose to build you up..but it seems like all it does is tear you down. When we struggle in finances or other areas if our life it pulls us away from the Lord. I dont believe God wants to see us struggle. So why do we? When does it end? Im am tired of waiting, im tired of struggling. I see no end. I have no hope.

Are you blaming God? It sure sounds like it.  Was God the author of your choices?  Was God the focus of your spending?  Were you tithing? Or were you robbing God?God is JUSTICE, but He is also merciful.  Do you understand cause and effect? Do you determine your steps or do you go through life and then wonder what happened? If you do not deliberately live for Jesus, you will wander and find yourself LOST in a world that the Devil designs.

After this the conversation got more personal so I have eliminated those comments, but I believe his sentiment is not unique.  I think a lot of Christians feel this way.  This is the power of money!  I am happy to report though, that in a follow up conversation just a few short weeks later, although his circumstances had not improved much, his attitude had. This gentleman was now praising God in his circumstances.  A positive attitude is attractive.  Attractive to bring others closer to you, attractive to bring more good things your way.  You cannot pout your way to happiness.

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Like music, money is an international language, and that language needs no translation if it is expressed in gold and silver.   There are some people whose public identity is tied to money.  For example, the names Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey come to mind packaged in money.  There are some who thinks having money will make them ‘somebody’, and not having money means that person is considered a ‘nobody’.

Money is a unit of measure, a measuring system used to score: progress, totals, rank, value, success, loss, profit, growth and more.  Money is so powerful a measuring tool that very often, before other features or benefits are taken into consideration, people are most anxious to know how much something costs.

Money is very attractive.   It is so magnetic, people follow it and those who have money may be fooled into thinking those people are actually following them.  Usually, if the money goes, so do the people.  Following the money trail is a successful strategy used by the police in crime investigations.

Money is an incentive, and a very good one.  Very few people can walk away from a very lucrative deal, deciding to opt out on a reason that trumps the money offered.

Those who say money is just a tool, a resource – have evolved.

This evolution is a spiritual one that is borne from a love of God over self.  Before you try to argue this point, let me remind you that this very basic human nature was captured in the very earliest pages of the Bible (Genesis 4) in the story of Cain and Able.

Both brothers worked in their area of talent and interest.  Both saw a profit, or earned a bounty from their labor.  However, Able in his love for God honored him with their first and best from his blessing, and Cain gave a token – but his attitude was one of keeping the best for himself and giving to God from the left overs. This is not a discussion of tithing, although tithing is very important. The focus here is the ability to see money as a blessing received from God in the first place, and putting God in the first place for a joyous outpouring to return the first and best of that blessing back to God.

When money becomes truly a resource and a tool and not your salvation or your identity then you will have power over money, instead of money having power over you.