In my interaction with (fellow) young people, I hear things like “why you dey go school, dey read book: no be because of money?” and “Ol’boy, you know how much that guy dey collect (or make) per month?” This suggests to me that we now have (more than ever before) a generation that is seriously deluded by riches, who thinks life is all about money. We have a lot of people who have even abandoned their destined careers or their planned career path just because another career offered them immediate and greater wealth – a temptation Jesus overcame severally (see John 6:15 and Matt.4:8-10).
Many today are grossly unsatisfied with their present job but cannot leave because the money they make is much. They know they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing; but they've been trapped by money! The church, sadly, has not helped matters a bit as (worldly) wealth acquisition is celebrated and encouraged in a way that, like the thorns in Jesus’ parable (Matt.13:7,22), effectively suffocates the desire for true riches of Christ.
We will discuss this deceitfulness of riches in three (3) parts: of the poor, of those beginning to prosper, and of the rich; trusting God to open our eyes and show us light.
(1) Deception of the Poor
The first deception tends to work on those who don't have enough or who perhaps are barely making ends meet. 1Tim.6:9-10 describes this deception: "Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs. (RSV)"
“But thou, O man of God, flee these things (v11 KJV).” FLEE! Don’t just casually walk away. To give yourself to the pursuit of money or the things money can buy opens you to every form of evil. Once that happens, you have strayed from the faith, or become deceived, and you will ultimately "pierce yourself through with many sorrows (v10: KJV)."
The passage goes on to talk about "those who desire to be rich." The potential deception is in developing a hunger for money IN THE BELIEF THAT if you just had enough of it, you would be happy, fulfilled and content.
This is a lie from Satan. He wants you to think that everything would be all right if you just had a little more money. By the way, note that money is morally neutral. It is neither good nor evil. It is the love of money that is a root of all evil, not money itself. Inasmuch as God wants you to be rich, He does not want you to want [crave, desire, will] to be rich. If you have problems with that, direct your anger to the Bible!
So dear, if you will live a godly life, base your life on obedience to the Word and be content, God can lift you out of the place of financial insufficiency. Let me summarize this by saying that faith is rest. If you are truly in faith, God will bring increase to your life because it is His promise to you. And then you can rest where you are and be undisturbed, satisfied and content, knowing that where you're at now is just temporary.
Contentment is an indicator that you are walking in faith. Conversely, if you are not content, then you may not be walking in faith. “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you.’ Hence we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?’ Heb.13:5-6 (RSV).”
(2) Deception As You Begin To Prosper
Now, when the money starts rolling in, our natural tendency is to commend ourselves for our efforts. We think it is primarily because we have followed some rules or improved our skills or negotiated smartly. That was why God warned His people beforehand in Deut.8:12-18:
“When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God…
“Do not say to yourself: "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.” (NRSV)
“Do not say to yourself: "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.” (NRSV)
We must always remember that God is the source of our increase; that (like David said) all things come from Him. Unless Jehovah builds the house, they labour in vain who build it; unless Jehovah keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain [1Chr.29:14; Psa.127:1 (MKJV)]
(3) Deception of the Rich
1Tim.6:17 tells us to "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” Just as riches present one type of deceitfulness to the person who is struggling financially and a different type to the person who is experiencing increase, there is another type of trap for those who are already rich.
Before you conclude that this doesn't apply to you because you don't consider yourself rich, let me define the word rich in this verse. In the Greek, it simply means "having an excess beyond need," with no particular amount of excess specified. So, if you have discretionary income (which is anything beyond your need, anything you can spend as you will) the Bible defines you as rich.
Really, riches give a false sense of Security and Superiority. The first thing you need to be watchful for is arrogance (haughtiness) and pride creeping into your life. The most dangerous form of it is when you are under the delusion that you are somehow right with God simply because you are rich. The power, prestige, prominence, pre-eminence, and preferential treatment afforded the affluent in the world’s system often produces a blind self-righteousness and elitism which leads to the wholly false assumption that they must also be right with God. Don’t be deceived!
The second (2nd) deception you need to resist when you are rich in this world is trusting in money (thinking that money will solve your problems) rather than in God. But people don't like to admit they have begun trusting in money more than their heavenly Father. That is why this deception is so easy to slip into. Beware of the tendency to stop trusting God to meet your needs when you have excess.
The truth is you do not “need” to have money to eat good food. You do not “need” to have money to travel from one place to another; neither do you “need” to have money to live in a house, win the affection of men, get favours, get medical treatment and healing, etc. GOD has shown at several times and in several places that WHAT YOU REALLY NEED to have is Him, not mammon.
Some instances from Scripture: Elijah was supplied food by ravens; Moses and Jesus lived forty days without food and water; Philip was taken by the Spirit to Azotus; the Zarephath woman and her son survived a three-and-half year famine on just a piece of meal; Elisha got a fine accommodation in Shunem; great kings from far and near were more than willing to be of aid to King Solomon; Nehemiah got all the needed authorisations and materials to rebuild the city walls just by asking; the disciples had a renowned legal expert (Gamaliel) to defend their case without paying any legal fee; Peter was released from prison without bail or lobbying, etc., etc.
By contrast, the woman with the issue of blood spent all her earnings seeking medication all to no avail. See how useless money can be! GOD will meet your needs whether He gives you money or not. So, choose you this day who you will serve.
CHOOSE YE THIS DAY…
“You CANNOT serve GOD and mammon” was Jesus’ words (Matt.6:24). This is true even when the services are not contradictory. Your affections and obedience would be divided, and eventually you would fail altogether in your duty to one or the other. One you would love; the other you would hate. To the interests of the one you would adhere, the interests of the other you would neglect. This is a law of human nature. The supreme affections can be fixed on only one object.
John tells us: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father IS NOT in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, IS NOT of the Father, but is of the world.” [1John 2:15-16 (KJV)]
We need deliverance from the spirit of the world that has marched in through the open door of the love of the world. The number one leaven that is defiling the church today is not Islam, Boko-Haram, counterfeit sects and cults claiming to be a form of Christianity, or any of the many false religions we identify as such; rather it is the False Religion of Materialism. And the number one idol to whom the church pays homage is the god of mammon.
Both John and Jesus (in the above cited passages) made it clear that double-mindedness or spiritual schizophrenia, wherein one is deceived by the belief that they have both the love of the world in them and the love of God at the same time, CANNOT be reconciled and will result in damnation of one's soul.
One fact is, money makes you comfortable in this life; and in doing so it hides from you the very transient, ephemeral and fleeting nature of life in the "here and now." Anyone who tells you differently is lying to you and the Bible labels him an "enemy" of the Cross of Christ: "For many are walking – of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping – as the ENEMIES of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, those who mind earthly things." [Phil. 3:18-19 (MKJV)]
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? LOOK AT THE BIRDS of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
“And why are you anxious about clothing? CONSIDER THE LILIES of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not MUCH MORE clothe you, O you of little faith?
“THEREFORE do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
- Jesus Christ: Matt.6:25-34 ESV)
- Jesus Christ: Matt.6:25-34 ESV)
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