Of course, if I spend more money than I must on goods that advance justice, I’ll have less to give away to the poor. So which path should I choose? Moreover, as a father, a significant part of my contribution to God’s kingdom includes my financial support for my own family. How much should I spend on my own children when millions of children throughout the world are starving? There are no simple answers to the questions we face concerning how best to use our money in a worshipful way.
Yet there are simple but profound truths that will guide us in our effort to worship God with our money, and finding freedom from the worship of money. All that have and all that we are belongs to God. Thus “our” money is really God’s money to be used for His purposes. God seeks our worship, not only in our songs and prayers, but also in our giving and spending. Most of all, God desires the full devotion of our hearts. We can’t love Him and Mammon, too. But if we love Him and seek to serve Him alone, then our money becomes a means of worship. So we sing, in the words of Frances Ridley Havergal:
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as thou shalt choose.
Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee.
(“Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated,” 1874, public domain, verses 1, 3, 6)
This article about the worship of money (or how to avoid it) originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
