“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 72
“He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch” (Prov. 11:28).
One of the oldest temptations in this fallen world is that of trusting in the security provided (or so it is thought) by wealth. From the rich fool in the parable of Christ whose bigger barns could not keep him from dying that night, to the rich young ruler who stumbled over the demands of discipleship, to the greedy man’s idolatry (as Paul named it), to the fattest camel trying to get through the smallest needle, the Scriptures teach us repeatedly that a man cannot serve God and Mammon both. You will either hate the one and serve the other, or vice versa. It is important to note that Scripture does not tell us that we should not love both God and Mammon, but rather that we cannot. Those who attempt it are really serving Mammon, with their lip service to Christ maintained as a pretence, perhaps for the sake of business. In this passage, God promises that those who trust in their wealth in this way shall fall.
But the flip side of this should not be ignored. Those who do not trust in riches shall have them. What you surrender for the sake of Christ to be crucified is returned again in a resurrected state. This includes the financial books. In fact, when we consider all the warnings that the Bible gives about wealth, we should say it includes especially the financial books.