Sometimes I get overwhelmed by it all. Advertising is everywhere—We listen to advertisements as we pump our gas, watch YouTube videos (unless we’ve paid for Premium), or wait for a movie to start. It’s a dim memory, but I remember going to movies when all I had to sit through were previews of upcoming shows before the feature movie started. Now, an early arrival means we’re subjected to nonstop advertisements that are so loud it’s hard to talk to the person who’s sitting beside you.

Logos, slogans, and ads appear everywhere: inside airport terminals, on car bumpers, billboards, buses, sports stadiums, and concert programs. They are stamped on clothing we wear and gift mugs we receive if we visit a new church. It doesn’t matter where we go on the Internet … checking on friends, finding the best recipe for butter tarts, locating a Scripture on Bible Gateway, or researching historical information … we are forced to navigate around dozens of pop-up ads on every site. An article that promises to inform us about some medical condition turns out to be a ploy. The only real information we gain is how to buy the product they’re offering that’s sure to heal it!

Money drives everything in our culture. Since buying and selling is what keeps our economy strong, influencing people to buy and sell MORE products is our premier pursuit and passion. We’ve grown so accustomed to this, we seldom step back and consider how it is impacting our lives.

What happens when we accept as truth that personal profit outweighs every other consideration in how we invest our time or resources? If “time is money,” we dare not spend our time on anything that doesn’t translate into material gain in one way or another. What do we consider a “waste of time” today? Anything that doesn’t produce more wealth or provide something (like education) that will help us accumulate more wealth in the future.

The apostle Paul knew the seduction and dangers inherent in worshipping the idol called money. He wrote to his spiritual son Timothy: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:9-10).

Jesus also warned us about this … and He did so frequently. According to an online Christian site I visited, one out of every ten verses in the Gospel accounts (288 in all) deal directly with the subject of money and possessions. I believe Jesus saw the topic as an excellent way to bring to light the motivations of our hearts and to assess our loyalty to God. He told His followers, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. … No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:19-21, 24).

Treasures are what we enjoy and guard with our lives. If something isn’t treasured, we treat it more carelessly. If we lose it or it gets damaged, we don’t see it as a huge loss. In our current materialistic society, many people get more upset about a new scratch on their car than an estranged relationship. We spend time poring over our financial investments and carefully research our next dream vacation or big-ticket purchase while ignoring what God says is far more important. Like the Pharisees, we tithe our “mint, dill, and cumin. But [we] neglect the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). We find time to attend parties that might open up new business ventures, but we say we’re “too busy” to visit a friend who’s struggling or look in on a lonely neighbor.

It’s not like we consciously choose material gains over interpersonal relationships. We just do what seems natural, based on what we see and hear all around us. But we can do better! As children of God, we should regularly check our hearts about this issue of money and possessions. In his book Encounters with Jesus Tim Keller quotes a portion of a commencement speech given by the successful American author David Foster Wallace (not a Christian). He told the graduating class at Kenyon College in 2005:

“Everyone worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some kind of god … to worship … is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth.” Wallace talked about other idols—things like beauty, sexual allure, power, and intellect. But none of them, he contended, can provide meaning in life or fully satisfy. “The insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they are evil or sinful; it is that they’re unconscious. They are default settings.”

But those of us who know the true and living God have the power to live differently. We can consciously decide to let God’s priorities become ours; we can allow His Spirit to change our hearts. This is what Paul was talking about in Romans 12. “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” (v. 1-2).

It’s not sinful to try to better our lives financially or to accumulate wealth per se. Wealth can be a great blessing in the hands of the right people. It becomes sinful when money is no longer a tool to be used for good but an end in itself. God wants us to worship Him, not the things of the world. He wants us to be generous (as He is). He wants us to use our gifts and resources to bless other people, not amass more for ourselves so we can feel secure or important.

Those who follow Jesus should be counter-cultural. Every aspect of our lives should be surrendered to His ways and reflect His character—including how we view and handle money. We will be inundated with advertising every day and feel its enticing tug, but we can resist its siren song by remembering who we are—children of light (see Ephesians 5:8-10).

Paul wraps up his advice to Timothy regarding money by saying: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation … so they may take hold of the life that is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

Heavenly Father, you know the culture we live in. We need your strength to resist its message—that we need to accumulate more and invest only in what will benefit us personally. Give us eyes to see things from your perspective. Make us rich in good deeds rather than possessions. Help us to be generous and quick to share with those in need. Change us into your likeness so we can have “the life that is truly life” found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.