No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. Matthew 6:24
I have heard it said that either we control our money, or our money controls us. You see, if we are not careful, we can shift from a perspective in which our money is a means for taking care of ourselves and our families and practicing generosity toward God and others, to idolizing our money, never having enough. For the person who idolizes money, enough will never be enough. Make no mistake, Scripture makes it very clear that there is no room in our lives for divided loyalty. We can either choose to let money be our false god or serve the one, true God who reigns and rules over everything.
Jesus taught His followers about money in Matthew 6. In this passage of Scripture, He said to a listening crowd, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one or love the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money” (verse 24). Jesus depicts two very different ways of living in this passage of Scripture. One way of living is to be enslaved to money. This, my friends, is a dark and hopeless way of living. You see, money cannot ultimately save us. In the end, it will not matter how many dollars we earn or what we can purchase with our finances. If we live enslaved to money, we will end up dissatisfied, ultimately realizing that our money and the things it can buy are not eternal. The second way of living that Jesus described is living for God and His kingdom. This, my friends, is what leads to a life of peace and satisfaction. You see, God and His kingdom are eternal. They will last forever. As a result, He is the one worth investing all of our resources in.
All week, we will dive into what Scripture teaches about money, but before we continue the conversation about honoring God with our money, we have to start by evaluating our hearts. Do we control our money, or does our money control us? What we need to gain is the right perspective. We have to understand that our money cannot save us, and it will not matter in eternity how much we have saved in our bank accounts. What will matter is how we honored and served Him with our lives, including how we honored Him with our finances. May God give us a fresh perspective today, and may we serve Him and Him alone, not our money or anything purchasable with it.
Take a few moments to reflect and answer this question: What is standing in the way of serving God fully, whether it is love of money or something else, today? Confess that to God today. Acknowledge that He alone is worthy of your worship and ask Him to help you as you seek to serve Him and Him alone.
“God, Your word teaches that I cannot serve You and money. I confess…”
Matthew 6:24-34
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
©2026 Sagebrush Church
