You cannot serve two masters

Jesus talked about money constantly, more than almost any other single subject, because he could see what it does to a heart. His teaching on it comes down to a diagnosis and a choice.

The diagnosis:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

That last line is not a command; it is an observation, and it works like gravity. Your heart follows your treasure, automatically. Show him your bank statement and your calendar and he can tell you what you actually worship, whatever you say you believe.

The choice:

No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Matthew 6:24

Notice he does not say money is evil. Money is a fine servant and a terrible god. As a tool, it feeds families, builds schools, blesses strangers. As a master, it is never satisfied, always anxious, and it whispers the same lie at every income level: a little more and you will be safe. He told a story about a rich man whose land produced so much that he tore down his barns to build bigger ones, told his soul to relax for years to come, and died that night. Watch out, Jesus said, for life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

When they tried to trap him with a tax question, he asked whose image was on the coin. Caesar's, they said. Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. The coin bears Caesar's image, so let it go where it belongs. But you bear God's image. You know where you belong.

The test of who is master is simple: when your money is threatened, what happens to your peace?

Tomorrow: the cost he never hid.