Be Skeptical of Money, Power, and the People who Hold them

The desire for money and power is insatiable. It easily consumes our finite lives. No one gets to have everything. Choose to pursue Jesus over money and power. Live with Christ and follow His narrow path. Be skeptical of those with money and power. Be skeptical of what they tell you.

Our Lord reigns over all creation and throughout time. God is all-powerful. Before and after all things, our God’s voice proclaims, ‘I am’. Yet Jesus let himself be killed at the hands of the world’s powerful. In the Gospels, Jesus told us that the Kingdom of God was for the poor, the meek, those who mourn, and the peacemakers. He showed us that His way of peace was to turn away from money and to use His power to love and forgive. Everyone is loved by God, and invited to share in peace. Peace was found in forgiveness and humility. We find it when we look away from money and power.

Money and power continue to speak into our lives. They build the societies we live in. Their presence looms, and their voice is loud. Cities worship money and power above all else. Learn to be skeptical of money. Learn to be skeptical of power. Money and power are not only ideas, but realities embodied in people. There are no social systems that are not built and driven by people. We should likewise be skeptical of the social systems we live within. It is easier to soothe the mind and soul corrupted by money and power, than it is to repent.

The allure of money and power remains. Every day, we must contend with both of these realities. Our lives require them, and we intersect with them daily. Our work gives us both money and power. Let us be careful that we hold each gently, with humility. We should regularly ask ourselves how we can use the money and power entrusted to us for the sake of God’s love in our world. Let us be careful with those we work with, whose lives and language may tempt and seduce us with false hopes. Money and power are realities of life, but they cannot save. Every life ends, and only love survives.

For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then, in his joy, he went and sold all he had and bought that field. 

Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. Upon finding one pearl of exceptional worth, they left to sell everything they owned and bought it.

Matthew 13:44-46 [UMB]

The prestige that comes with these dual allures elevates them within our societies. Let us follow the example of Jesus and let them come last. When the powerful or wealthy ask for advice, we should simply invite them to pray with us. Let our skepticism make us wary of these people. Avoid being taken advantage of by them. Someone’s wealth or power does not make them deserving of your trust. Do not lend them your name. Do what you can to not owe them anything. We can love them without accepting their false reality. We know that the love of God is far greater than their wealth or power can ever be. We still can embody the Fruit of the Spirit with them. Our debts have been paid, and we live in freedom that can only come from the cross.

• How are you skeptical of money and power while still functioning in your work and city?
• Meditate on how to hold your money and power with humility and for the sake of God’s love.
• Contemplate on the true freedom we have in Christ overcoming money and power.
• Meditate on what it can look like to be skeptical of someone while being loving and embodying the Fruit of the Spirit with them.
• Meditate on the ways your life intersects with money and power.
• Reflect on the flattery and seduction of money and power. Then pray for God’s help in overcoming their allure.
• Celebrate that Jesus has allowed you to see the futility of pursuing money or power.
• Meditate on what goals in your life surpass goals about money or power.
• Reflect on how your relationship to money may need changing?
• Reflect on how your relationship to power may need changing?
• Who, if anyone, in your life hordes wealth and power?
• Grieve the ways your life must accommodate and work with money and power.
• What ways do you check that your heart and spirit have healthy detachment from money and power?
• Pray that our God would help keep you from desiring money or power.
• Salvation is for everyone, but how do your desires keep you from enjoying God?
• Meditate on the ways that God is better than amassing money or power.
• What are ways that money or power have flattered and complimented you?