Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

When I got to college, I had the same mindset a lot of my peers had: I wanted a degree that would give me a job with the biggest paycheck and the most freedom. There was no thought of what I actually wanted to do, what I was skilled in, or what could make a difference in the world. I just wanted to secure the bag and do whatever I wanted.

When it came time for me to declare my major, I chose marketing only because I had a marketing teacher in high school that I assumed was rich. It didn’t matter if he actually was, since I had no real idea anyway. It was just enough for me to envision my future: a big house, brand new cars, a bathtub full of money like I’m in a 1980’s action movie. But then, something happened.

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Around the same time that I was making these ridiculous plans in my head, I started following Jesus. Between reading the Bible for the first time, being in community, and serving in the local church, I realized that the life I’d envisioned wasn’t going to be fulfilling. Now, to be clear, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having a lot of money. I just wanted all that money for all the wrong reasons.

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There are some things in life that are black and white. For example, stealing from someone is bad. That’s simple. But other things require us to take a step back and evaluate. Saying, “I want a lot of money,” is not as simple. Do you want it to fill a bathtub with money? Or do you want it to make an impact that goes beyond you?

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Our motivations have an impact on everything we do, and it’s helpful to see the “why” behind what we want.

Jesus spends a lot of time in the Bible talking about money. In fact, it’s one of the topics he talks about most often. I think Jesus knew that money, possessions, and comfort were things people always had and always would struggle with. 

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There is something comfortable about having everything we need and then some. Our brains desire comfort because difficult circumstances are, well, difficult. Jesus gets this, beginning his thought in Luke 12 with, “Do not be afraid.” We naturally want the path of least resistance, so we hold on to the money we make and the possessions we own because it eases our fear of not having enough. But the things we hold on to the tightest are probably the very things we need to let go of first.

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Matthew 6:24 is a little more blunt on this topic: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

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If we can only serve one master, we could choose money as the master we serve. Again, this doesn’t mean someone necessarily makes a lot of money, but that they’ve made money the center of their identity.

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The other option is to choose God as the master we serve, acknowledging that everything we have was given to us by Him in the first place. When we view the things we have not as something we own, but as something we were given, it changes how we see them. If we know our finances are a gift to steward, not something we earned and must hold on to, it becomes a lot easier to freely give.

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Everyday we’re making a choice. We’re living for this life or the next. There are a lot of ways to measure what we’re living for, but our generosity is one of the best. Where we spend our time, money, and resources will show us what we value the most. 

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As you go throughout your day, take some time at different points to evaluate what you’re doing. What is your heart tied to? Is it tied to something that won’t last, or is it tied to something eternal?

God, thank you for your generosity above everything else. You have been more gracious to us than we could ever imagine. Help us to not see the things we have as something we own, but as something you have given us to steward well. Help us to see our money, time, and resources as ways to help others see how much YOU love them. Whatever we have is yours, and we want to freely give it away as You do. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.