Sunday, September 28, 2025

Most of us have worked hard in order to save up for something. When you were a kid, maybe you saved up for a certain toy that you had to have. As we got older, maybe you saved up to buy your first car, you know, the one that barely ran, that had oh so many endearing mechanical and cosmetic issues, but it was yours, at least for a while. As you grew up maybe you saved up for college, for books, and eventually for a house of your own. Over many years we so easily accumulate piles and piles of things, but always seem to want more.

In large part, this is because there is a whole industry whose sole purpose is to have us want more, buy more, and get more of whatever they are selling. But this cycle of saving and buying begins to ring hollow after a while. It does this because these things, although they may give us momentary joy, do not fill our greatest needs of heart and soul.

We find this fulfillment and hope only in Jesus and life with Him. And far from being two different things, money and faith, Paul brings them together, telling us that all we have, but especially our finances, are to be formed by our faith. And more than that, money is not something to be shunned, but rather used for the glory of God.

So how do we look at money? We flee from the seductive siren’s call of loving money above all else. We use our money to fight for the faith, not with weapons of war, but we use our money to share the Gospel and connect others to it. This looks like new and revitalized churches, expanding schools, and new technology; these are things that help grow the Kingdom of God and are investments for the future of others.