DON’T LET HATRED OF POVERTY DRIVE YOU TO THIS MONEY MISTAKE
Some of us are so determined to break free from poverty that we make a mistake.
We start to use poverty like a compass.
It becomes our “true south,” so to speak, because we throw everything we are into sailing the opposite direction.
“Poverty is terrible! I hate this. I want away from this reality. Whatever the opposite of poverty is—that’s where I’m going!”
The problem is, poverty has an evil twin called the spirit of mammon. It is essentially wealth personified or the god of riches.
In our desperation to escape poverty, some of us end up sailing straight to the island of mammon. We fall in love with money and the power it can bring. Without realizing it, we begin to set our hearts on wealth and gratification.
It looks like we’ve finally “made it.” But the spirit of mammon is not freedom. If we are standing on the island of mammon, we are living and thinking like orphans, even if we are rich beyond our wildest dreams.
Mammon is the other master Jesus spoke of in Matthew 6:24:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (NASB)
Mammon is a mirror image to poverty, only the opposite.
Where poverty pulls us down, mammon puffs us up.
Where poverty says, “You lack value and worth,” mammon says, “You’re entitled. This should be yours.” It attracts us through its shininess.
Poverty says, “I have to hide,” but the spirit of mammon says, “I deserve all the attention. These people should promote me, and I will do everything I can to get promoted.”
Poverty says, “I am not enough,” but mammon scoffs and says, “They just wish they were me. I’ll show them.”
As we leave poverty behind, it is possible to start rationalizing and justifying unwise financial decisions. As money beckons, we can end up taking some really unhealthy actions.
The enemy doesn’t care where we camp—on the island of poverty or on the island of mammon. There is no balance in the enemy’s plans; they’re all bad and meant to destroy us. Poverty and mammon are both orphan mindsets empowered.
But here is the important question.
This query is vital when we are trapped in poverty, and it is also vital as we break free from poverty:
What is God the Father calling us to steward?
When the Lord speaks and we operate according to His voice—that is the handshake of a Prosperous Soul. That is co-laboring with Christ like the Bible talks about.
As followers of Jesus, we don’t hide from wealth and power, but we learn how to discern faithfulness. Money is simply a tool to master as we grow in faithfulness; it is not something more important than the voice of God and co-laboring with Him. If our hearts are pure, wealth becomes useful.
Defeating the spirit of mammon is easy when your heart is set on Christ’s purposes. This week, make this your declaration: “I am not mastered by money, riches, or wealth. They serve God through my hands.”
I have done this, countless times. Back and forth, like a pendulum. It's exhausting, defeating, hopeless. I'm so grateful to learn that there is a different Way.