Why We Worship Money

A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.” So he divided his wealth between them.

–Luke 15:11–12

Satan doesn’t need any new tricks to lure us away from God–the old ones work just fine. The same temptations that led the prodigal son away from his father in Luke 15 are at work today to lead us away from our heavenly Father. And the first is a lust for money.

In Luke 15:11–13, Jesus said, “A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.” Think about this boy for a moment. He probably lived in a mansion and had servants who waited on him around the clock. He knew that one day he would inherit a fortune from his father. But that wasn’t enough. So he went to his father and said, “Dad, I want my money, and I want it now.”

I imagine the father was angry at first, but his anger soon turned to hurt. When the son said, “Father, give me the share of the estate,” he was really saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead right now so I could get your money. But since it looks like you’re going to hang around for a while, just give me my share of your money right now so I can get out of here.” That request must have come like a dagger to the father’s heart. But he relented and divided his estate–according to the custom of the day, he would have given one-third to his younger son.

What would cause a son to leave the security of his home and alienate a powerful and loving father? The reason is what I call “money mania.” To worship money means to ascribe to money the same characteristics that we ought to ascribe only to God. It means to give money the same amount of respect that we give God. Why do we allow money to become our god and lure us away from the Father, who has everything?

I think the reason we tend to worship money more than anything else is that, in many ways, money appears to do the things that God can do for us. This week, I’m going to point out four qualities of money that fuel money mania.

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Today’s devotion is adapted from “Money Mania” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2009.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.