The other side of that coin is that anything loved and trusted more than God is certain to fail. For this reason, Jesus repeatedly warned against the seductive power of possessions, knowing that the desire for them can take us captive and separate us from God. Mammon, he called them. “You cannot serve God and mammon”(Matt6:24). Jesus used the word to signify money as an object of trust,personified and worshiped. Serving mammon is a temptation in every generation, but especially our own, caught up as we are in the pursuit of affluence on an unprecendented scale.

But how do we serve God instead of mammon?

“Follow me,”Jesus said. .... we face the supremely difficult challenge of living faithfully for Christ in a culture that is more alien to our faith than we may realize. If our particular culture encouraged the persecution of Christians, the challenge would be more sharply drawn. But this culture doesn’t beat up on most of us; it seduces us with a desire to have more of what money can buy. ...... none of us has to be wealthy to covet wealth. It is the love of wealth, not the amount of wealth that starves the soul, and our culture fosters that love.

The word culture is rooted in the Latin word cultus--a system of religious worship. Culture is the way of life that grows out of the beliefs and values of a people--not necessarily the ones they profess to have, but the ones they really do have. A culture, then, reflects what dominates the hearts of people, what most of them love and trust and live for, and what they try to accomplish. A materialistic culture is one that by definition has emerged from the worship of wealth and pursuits related to wealth. That is not the whole story of our culture, to be sure, but it is a large part of it.

.....I struggled with my own commitments and spending habits, seeking fidelity to Christ. In surroundings that impose false aspirations on all of us, I continue to struggle, learning as I go. I am guided by some clear signals from the Bible but not a full slate of answers. The witness of saints through the ages also gives me a general sense of direction, though few specific directives for the tangled web of daily decisions. In short, God points the way but provides no paved road through the wilderness.

Each follower of Jesus faces this challenge. There are no shortcuts, no quick fixes, no”one-size-fits-all” when it comes to living as a faithful disciple. Decisions about the use of money and use of our lives more often involve shades of gray than sharp contrasts between black and white but because those decisions make a huge difference to our own well-being and that of others, they are of immense importance. They usually involve many small steps rather than great heroic leaps. Because the results are always flawed and our motives inescapably mixed, we live by forgiveness.

To serve mammon is to turn away from God. To serve God is to reject mammon and become recipients of a totally unmerited love, a love that enables us to let go of anything to which we are captive and follow Christ.