Earning, saving and planning all have a place in the Christian life. Matthew 6 shows what happens when wealth starts claiming the allegiance that belongs to the Lord alone.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors
Jesus warned in Matthew 6:24 that no one can serve both God and mammon. Wealth that feels like solid footing can give way beneath anyone who stands on it. (Getty Images/Illustration by EEW Magazine Online)
Money can provide comfort, create opportunities, and help meet life's necessities. It can also become something far more powerful: a master that dictates our decisions, shapes our priorities, and demands our allegiance. Jesus warned about that danger in Matthew 6:24, declaring, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Those words, spoken during the Sermon on the Mount, are frequently repeated and seldom examined closely. Earning money and managing possessions responsibly were not the target of His warning. Jesus was confronting the spiritual danger of allowing wealth to occupy a position of authority that belongs to God alone.
His language makes that clear. Mammon comes from an Aramaic term for wealth or material possessions, a word broader than cash or currency. Matthew's Greek text renders it mamōnas, and Jesus sets it opposite God as a competing master.
The word translated "serve" is just as telling. The Greek verb douleuō describes the service of someone in bondage to a master. Jesus is describing a relationship of submission in which the master commands the servant's allegiance.
His warning leaves no room for shared rule. God and wealth cannot both hold ultimate authority over a person's life.
The verses just before it show how that rivalry begins. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus instructs His followers to store up treasures in Heaven instead of on earth, where treasure is vulnerable to destruction and loss. He then explains that the heart follows its treasure.
What we treasure, we pursue. That pursuit shapes our choices, and over time our choices reveal what has authority over us.
Jesus taught that the heart follows its treasure, and whatever the heart keeps reaching for can become its master. (Malte Mueller/Getty Images)
Money becomes a spiritual problem when acquiring or preserving it takes precedence over obedience to God. That can happen when someone compromises integrity to increase profits or neglects responsibilities in the relentless pursuit of financial success. It can happen when protecting personal wealth matters more than serving others, and generosity dries up.
It can also happen when material possessions become the primary source of identity, significance, or security. Jesus exposes the danger of treating something temporary as though it possesses ultimate power. His teaching presses believers to examine what they own and, more searchingly, what drives their decisions.
Scripture does not treat financial responsibility as sin. In 1 Timothy 6, the apostle Paul warns against the love of money and the destructive desires that come with chasing riches. A few verses later, he gives specific instructions to wealthy believers.
He urges them to stay humble, to place their hope in God instead of uncertain riches, to practice generosity, and to become rich in good works. Paul stops short of telling every wealthy Christian to abandon all possessions. He calls them to recognize their responsibility before God.
The principle is consistent with Jesus' teaching: Wealth is something to be stewarded faithfully, never worshiped or trusted as the ultimate source of security.
None of this softens the Bible's serious warnings about greed, exploitation, and riches gained at the expense of others. Faithful stewardship requires more than claiming that God comes first. It demands that our financial decisions reflect His righteousness.
What Jesus says next in Matthew 6 is revealing. Right after the warning against mammon, He turns to anxiety over food, clothing, and life's daily necessities.
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life," He declares in verse 25, before pointing His disciples to the birds that receive their provision from their Heavenly Father.
In the English of the King James Version, "take no thought" means do not be anxious. The Greek verb in Matthew's text, merimnaō, describes anxious, consuming care. Foresight and practical preparation remain wise.
Having warned against making wealth a master, Jesus directs His followers toward the Father who knows their needs. He acknowledges that food and clothing are genuine human needs. He teaches His disciples that their ultimate confidence must rest in God instead of material resources.
Money can be lost. Financial circumstances can change. Even carefully laid plans offer no guarantee against uncertainty. The believer's relationship with God does not rise and fall with a bank balance.
Money can be lost and circumstances can change without warning. Jesus pointed His followers to the Father who already knows what they need. (Getty Images/Illustration by EEW Magazine Online)
That is why Jesus brings His teaching to a defining command in Matthew 6:33: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."
Seeking God's Kingdom first means allowing His authority, character, and purposes to govern every area of life, including our relationship with money. The command holds out no promise of a life free from financial difficulty. It calls believers to remain faithful to God whatever their financial circumstances.
Jesus repeats His warning about mammon in Luke 16:13, at the close of a teaching about the responsible use of material wealth. There, He emphasizes faithfulness in handling what has been entrusted to us. The biblical response to mammon goes beyond rejecting greed in private. It shows up in the way we handle our resources.
Money can feed the hungry, support families, relieve suffering, and advance work that reflects God's love and righteousness. It cannot redeem the human soul, reconcile us to God, or give us eternal life. Only Jesus Christ can accomplish what wealth never could, and the One who gave His life for our salvation calls us to surrender every competing allegiance.
Ultimately, Jesus is asking whether money has become our master. When obedience conflicts with financial gain, which will we choose? When material security is threatened, where do we place our deepest trust?
We may earn money, save it, invest it, and use it wisely. We must never give it the devotion, dependence, or obedience that belongs to God.
Money may be entrusted to our hands, but it must never be enthroned in our hearts.
