Musing 35

“You cannot serve God and money.”

These wise words from our Lord wrap up a small section of the Sermon on the Mount talking about where our treasure is stored.

Because where we store our treasure exposes where our heart is. And one of the clearest signs is how we spend our money, especially when we spend money beyond the bare necessities.

At minimum, what we spend money on exposes where our thoughts and loyalties lie. If we love games, we will spend money on them, if reading, then books, etc. And that’s an important window into our heart.

On top of this, we have the charge to be good stewards of what God has given to us. Our time and money are two of the most influential of those gifts and the idols of our heart are exposed by the use of those gifts.

What does our use of time and money say about our priorities? Is it truly all “just necessities”? Or is there use of those gifts where we zone out or numb ourselves to what’s going on?

Sure, there are times to rest and recover, and that’s appropriate to do (especially since even from creation, we were clearly created to rest after working!), but do we abuse that and instead lay around in indolence?

Or for our money, do we squander it by nickel and diming every little thing and so think that, because there’s nothing lavish in our spending, we are well using it?

From a practical perspective, what are some things to look out for?

• do we have a budget that lets us know where we’re spending money?
  • do we actually follow that money?
• are we prone to mindlessly scrolling on apps?
  • this doesn’t have to be doomscrolling either. it can be any form of mindless media consumption
• are we intentional about our actions?
• do we take honest assessment of our downtime during the week?

Of course, none of us are perfect, but this is a place we can easily allow idols to rule our lives without realizing it. The war for holiness is not easy. But there is the promise of rest from our Leader who has fought the fight before us and won victory for us all.