The Love of Money & Trusting God

Why is it that some of us fail to grow in grace? There are lots of explanations. One I am currently thinking about comes from Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. In it, Jesus tells us that the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of riches “choke out the word” so that it fails to bear fruit (Matthew 13:22).

Why is it that some of us fail to grow in grace? There are lots of explanations. One I am currently thinking about comes from Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. In it, Jesus tells us that the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of riches “choke out the word” so that it fails to bear fruit (Matthew 13:22). 

When I lost my job due to budget cuts on the heels of the pandemic shutdown, I got scared and experienced this firsthand. One of my first thoughts was, “We’re going to lose our house, and we just bought it! There’s no way we can keep it without my income.” I panicked. My job loss felt like the first domino falling that would end in a financial free fall. My other thought was, “All that money we saved to use as a down payment for our house a year ago will go down the drain.” It took a few days and the prayers of friends near and far for me to get my wits about me, for me to recollect myself and turn my eyes toward Jesus once again. To respond to God with trust. In those moments of panic, I could feel the worries of this life choking out God’s word to me.

This wasn’t the first time I had to trust God to provide for our daily bread. And of course, it likely won’t be the last. One way God provided was through friends who set up a GoFundMe account for our family. The generosity of many people allowed us to pay our mortgage for several months, pay medical bills, and put food on the table until we could figure out what to do. 

Our financial difficulties reminded me that we don’t hear a lot of talk about our love for money, or our penchant for greed, in sermons here in the US. We do hear a lot about stewarding our money.  Indeed, very few of us assume we could fall prey to the deceitfulness of wealth. Me? Love money? Nah. And yet the love of money and “all the choices money affords us,” as an acquaintance once reflected, do deceive us and take our eyes off of Christ. After all, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”

Not only might we be unaware of how much the love of money and the deceitfulness of wealth affect us, we are often unaware of how much worry crushes and distracts us—how the worries of this world choke out the fruit of the gospel in our lives. When worry (outside of clinical anxiety and depression), or our attachment to the riches of this world goes unexamined and unrepented of, it will stunt our growth and the gospel may not bear as much fruit in our lives. I am beginning to see this more and more.

Through my experiences, I’ve discovered several practices that bring me perspective and comfort and help me confront the worry and anxiety that threatens to control my thoughts and attitudes. First, to combat worry over money and related fantasies over the problems money can supposedly solve (in other words, “the deceitfulness of wealth”), I follow Jesus’ instructions and consider the birds and the flowers of the field (Matthew 62534). Through these verses, I am reminded of God’s care. He feeds, clothes, and cares for them; and He will do the same for me. I can trust God. I find myself repeatedly camping out in these verses, meditating on them, sitting with them for days or even weeks. It helps to transform my mind and life (see Romans 12:12). 

In addition, I think about the life of Jesus, how He entrusted Himself to our Father time and time again. Remembering His words and life encourages me to remember all of the ways I have seen God’s faithfulness throughout my own life. Looking back I can see God’s hand time and time again protecting and providing for me and those I love. God has not changed. If He provided in the past, He will provide in the present and the future. 

This leads to a recommitment on my part: I entrust myself and my family to God yet again. In the midst of all this, I contact trusted friends and my pastors to confess my struggles (see James 5:16). I ask them to remember me before God. I listen to their wise counsel and find comfort in their care and concern. Truly, we cannot live the Christian life alone. Nor can we overcome worry and the deceitfulness of wealth without a healthy Christian community. 

Finally, I give thanks to God for everything I do have. Taking inventory of the many things God has provided for me in these moments is a humbling practice. As the list grows, so does my confidence that my heavenly Father has not forgotten me and that I can trust Him with my life and family. 

These practices reorient me to reality and to truth, and set me aright again.

—Written by Marlena Graves. Used by permission from the author.

20 Responses

  1. Thanks so much for this message, this confirmation 😊. My prayer is that God continues to show me His Way as I follow Him. Needed this❣

  2. Thank you! Often I don’t see what God is doing in my life at the time, especially in a period of what I’d call my "wilderness" moments. It is when I look back that it takes my breath away of the love & grace of my Lord & Saviour Whose love & faithfulness has never wavered even when at times it felt like He wasn’t near. He promised us He will never leave us nor forsake us, which means in EVERY aspect of our daily lives. What a God!

  3. Thank you so much for this. I have really been struggling with trust and letting go and let God.

  4. Amen, and my God will supply ALL of my needs! Hallelujah! This is yet another confirmation to stay the course, do not rob God, and continue to be a blessing to others. God’s perfect timing, thank You, Jesus.

  5. I can see where you are coming from even though my situation is different. Being single, never married, brings it’s difficulties to. When I found out I had breast cancer I kept thinking how can I afford to pay this and that. Then I remembered that Jesus has not left the room or left me to face this alone so in my mind and in my prayers I turned everything over to Jesus even when I was going through radiation treatments I would say out loud "Lord this is in your hands, you know what I need so I’m just giving everything to you and I’m going to continue doing what I need to do" Surgery went well, radiation treatment’s went well and I was able to get back to my part time job. Almost finished the year but, again the unexpected happened and I found myself going through another surgery, this time a total hysterectomy in December ‼️
    Again I turned everything over to Jesus but this time things were different and various factors have played into going to radiation and now chemotherapy treatment with injections the day after. Still I rely on Jesus but my sisters in Christ have taught me to rely on them also, which I admit is hard to do since I’m one who does so much on my own. Praise the Lord, he is showing me that it’s okay to have others help.
    Thank You for your message it helped in so many ways.💖

  6. It really makes you think about what you have to be thankful for and how much better off we are than many others.

  7. Thank you for sharing your testimony! I needed this reminder of God’s truth and examining my heart to see where I have sinned in that area. My trust is in the Lord and not money. God bless you.

  8. Thank you so much for this "AWESOME" testimony of God’s provision for his children in the midst of the storms of life through our journey in this earth.
    "JEJOVA JIREH"

  9. Thank you for reminding us that our Heavenly Father will never leave us or forsake us and that if he can take care care of the sparrows who he did not died to save how much more us his children that he gave his life for
    Blessings

  10. Amen..God has ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR ME RIGHT ON TIME!!! The Lord has given me so much wisdom when I try to do things my way. I learned to listen, pray and ask the Lord what shouId I do. His answer sometimes isn’t what I want to hear/do, but He has NEVER been wrong. THANK YOU LORD. ❤

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