"No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money." (Matt. 6:24)
Jesus does not say that it is difficult to serve the one true God and the god of money, He said it is impossible. and yet in the US we have equated material wealth with the blessing of God, and we have become so confused about what is actually the American dream and the Christian reality that most don't see any conflict of interest at all.
Jesus said, "It is only possible to be devoted to one god. So, which is it. God or money?" We love shiny things. New cars, new houses, bigger cars, bigger houses, new clothes. So true is this that the average American spends $1.20 for every $1.00 that they make. Proverbs says that the "borrower is the slave of the lender."
This summer my family and I visited the Magic Kingdom of Disney. There were big crowds, but no sense of community. There was a thrill available at every turn, but no commitment to significance. It was a fun time, but not a thing worthy of our devotion. But how like Disney World have we made our churches. Reggie McNeal says we have created "Six Flags Over Jesus". We have transformed churches into one stop worship malls where we can pick from a smorgas board of options and never really surrender our lives to Jesus. As surely as Jesus stood knocking at the door of the church in Ephesus, Rev. 3:20, He must desire that we let Him back into the churches of America. Would He be as angry as He was when He overturned the tables in the temple in Mark 11? Does He need to remind us, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for the nations."
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
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