Jesus said, “do not lay up for yourself treasure upon earth, where moth and rust will destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourself treasure in Heaven, where no moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves cannot break in or steal” --the reason is -- “because where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Many people do not believe it is wrong to love money. To have money is not a sin, to love money is a sin.

It is very easy to understand whether we have obeyed this command or not. If your mind is thinking more about earthly things than Heavenly things -- If you are thinking more about your earthly assets and properties than Heavenly things -- you can be pretty sure that your heart is on this earth, and that your treasure is also here. The way to know whether we have obeyed this command is to ask ourselves during the day where is our heart set. In the middle of our work (or anything else), if we are terribly disturbed because of a little financial loss or excited because of a financial gain, this could indicate that our treasure is on this earth.

I remember many years ago, when somebody gave me a small financial gift, the Lord asked me a question -- “Has your joy increased?” I suddenly felt convicted and confessed to the Lord that my joy did increase because I got this little money. I learned that day that I must rejoice only in the Lord and not in money. I also learned that the increase of money should never increase my joy. If it does increase my joy, it means that my joy is in money.

The Bible says to rejoice in the Lord always - and the Lord is always the same - so if you gain money or lose money, your joy in the Lord should not increase or decrease. It should be the same. If your joy decreases because you lost some money, you can be pretty sure that your heart was there. If your joy increases because you got some money, you can be pretty sure your heart was there. We must trust God. He will provide all we need for our earthly life, but we must not find our joy in these earthly things. We can use these earthly things but should not find our joy in them.

Money is a wonderful servant, but it is a terrible master -- just like fire. We cannot live without fire in our houses, to cook, for example. But if the fire in that stove becomes a master, then the house will be burnt up. It is a terrible master - capable of burning down your whole house - but if you keep it under control, then it is a wonderful servant. (When you turn the knob say, “I am going to control when I turn you on, and when I turn you off. I am going to decide that. I, not you.” Thus you are master of the house.) Money must be like that. Just like we need fire, we need money to live on this earth, but it must be a servant. You must say, “Money I am going to decide that you are not going to control me; I am going to control you. You are not going to control my mind and make me think about you all the time. I am going to think about the Lord and things of Heaven, but I am going to use you.” This is the position of a spiritual man.

Gold is a very good thing if it is used as a servant. The Bible says there is even gold in Heaven! But there, we read about streets of gold. That means you walk on it, it is under your feet. This is the difference between a heavenly-minded Christian and an earthly-minded Christian. A heavenly-minded Christian has put gold under his feet - it does not rule him - but a carnal Christian wears gold on his head and it is on his mind all the time.

So if money is on your mind all the time, then you love it, whether you like it or not. It is like a boy who loves a girl and is always thinking about her. One who is always thinking about money is in love with money, and the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. You do not have to be rich to love money. I have never seen a beggar in India who does not love money. Every beggar loves money. If you gave them 50 paisa they would despise it. They love money and want more. Thus, it is not wealth that makes a man love money. Poor people love money too just as much as rich people.

It is also the case that you can be free from the love of money irrespective of how much wealth you have. It is a question of your attitude towards it. If you have one servant in your home, and he takes over your house, it would be terrible. You can have a little money (like having one servant), but he has taken over your house and rules your thinking. On the other hand, you can have 318 servants like Abraham had, yet they were all his servants and obeyed him. Like Abraham, you can have a lot of money, and if you rule over it, then you can use it for the glory of God.

The love of money is the root of all evil, (not necessarily having plenty of money). It is very important to understand this distinction. I have seen many poor people who love money tremendously, and I have seen rich people who do not love it. I have seen that it is not a question of how much you have, but what you love. This is what Jesus was speaking about. Your mind must be set on the things above. Lay-up treasure in Heaven. Check what are you thinking of, where your heart is, to discover what are you in love with.

Then Jesus goes on to speak about the eye in relation to money in Matthew 6:22, “The lamp of the body is the eye, and if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” This means that it is a question of how you look at money. If your eye is bad, it means that you look at money as something very important, as most important for your life on earth, and your body will be full of darkness. “If the light that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is.” (v23) It is amazing that many people who have all of their doctrines right, and are good Christians in the eyes of others, who go to church services regularly yet they love money tremendously. They may even look down on other dead denominations without knowing that people in dead denominations are free from the love of money than they are, who claim to be in New Testament patterned churches.

Ask yourself some fundamental questions like these: do you get excited when you get little more money? Do you get depressed when you lose money? Then you love money. Our joy will be completely unaffected if it is in the Lord alone. If our joy is in earthly things, it will be affected by changes in our income.

No one can serve two masters. “Either he will hate the one and love the other.” It is quite a radical thing Jesus says here, just like Jesus speaks about hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters in Luke 14:26. Jesus was radical. Jesus says that if you want to love God, you have to hate money (Matthew 6:24). Mammon refers to money, real estate, stocks and shares. Jesus says that if you want to love God, you must hate all of that. You can use it, but your love for God must be so supreme -- like the brightness of the sun -- that your interest in money disappears as stars disappear in daylight. If it is not like that for you, you cannot serve God.

Jesus says, “If you hold onto one, you despise the other.” Put “God” and “mammon” into that sentence and this is how it reads: “No one can serve God and material things (material wealth, money). Either he will hate money and love God or hate God and love money.” The implication of what Jesus is saying is that anyone who loves money, hates God. You may not have known it before, but now you do. Jesus is saying that if you love money, you hate God. You may think you love God just because you sing a lot of songs to Him, but that is not what Jesus says.

Jesus says that if you hold onto God, you will despise money, and if you hold onto money, you despise God. You can have money and earn money, but the moment you begin to love it you begin to hate God. God may have given a good job or an inheritance where you have lot of money, and that is fine. But if you love it, and hold onto it, you despise God and you hate God. It is so important for us to understand and to have a right attitude in this if we want to serve the Lord faithfully.