Integrity- People of God

There is room for only one to sit on the throne of man’s heart. What we worship reveals who is enthroned as lord and master of our life. Jesus identified the two sources that will eventually become our master. What He said is true, no man can serve two masters, he will love one and hate the other, and we cannot serve God and money. No one can serve God and riches.

Matthew 6: 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

In this life we have a choice of one or two masters, God or money. We will serve only one and disregard the other though we may engage them both. Sometime we can be pleasantly engaging with God and money. It is in a crisis situation that reveals in which one we place our trust. In one of these two things we will put our trust and our hope for the future.

When self is on the throne of our heart then we are motivated to do what it takes to indulge and please self. Our first inclination is to go with what we believe will help us with self- preservation and most times that is money. When self is on the throne, then money becomes our master, because it is money that allows us to satisfy all the appetites of self-indulgence. Money allows us to indulge self in all that it wants to rule and to reign in our world.

How we use money speaks to where our hope lies and what we value most in this life and will determine how we will spend eternity. If this is the only life we have hope for, let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and if this life is the only thing we have hope in, we are all men most miserable.

1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

Many of us acknowledge God and want to accept Jesus as our Saviour because we do not want to go to hell, but we want to refuse Him as our Master and Lord. We want Jesus to save us but we do not want Him to be our Master and dictate how we should live our lives. We want self to sit on that throne so we can decide how we will live our lives, spend our time and money.

If we choose God then we must let the love of money go. Money can no longer be our motivation in this life. That is one of the most difficult things for man to accept because he has been taught that money is the most important thing.

For God to be on the throne of our lives, we must die to self. This is a hard concept for most people to understand and live out. We must have a renewed mind to His ways and let His word navigate us through life’s situations and our responses. The world will think our actions are strange and may even be offensive to them because they do not know God’s ways.

John 12:24-26                     Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

1Peter 2:7-8               Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,”  and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

God does not want us in poverty. He wants to give us exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ask or think. He wants us to be the example of His goodness in this world but He does not want us going after money and the riches of this world. God want us to choose Him over every situation and circumstance and it is a hard choice but it speaks to what or who has preeminence over our lives. The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy people and then blame God for it.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

If we put our trust in money, it becomes our lord, and then it dictates our responses to problems and in crisis situations. We will do all we can to hold on to money or get money even if it means being dishonest, lying or stealing. Many people believe in Jesus but they do not put their trust in Jesus. They want Him to save them for all eternity but cannot trust Him to keep them and their families’ safe in this world. There are so many who are neither hot nor cold, they want to keep a foot in both camps; to live anyway they want right now. In the end they will cry Lord, Lord but He will not know them.

Revelation 3: 15-17   I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Each and every one of us was given life in this world for a God given purpose. We have an enemy who wants to prevent us from fulfilling those purposes. This world will miss out on the contributions God has placed in us, if we choose not to live the life God has purposed for us. Life sometimes gets so busy that we do not think about ultimate purpose. We sometimes lose sight of God’s plan and how we impact eternity for ourselves and others.

If we were on a battlefield and our enemy would have us so preoccupied with insignificant things such as putting up a tent or making a campfire, we would never have time to stop and plan or strategize on how to win the battle. So it is with life as we go through the motions of living without thinking, without planning and without understanding our purpose.

Revelation 3:17,20                  Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-                                                                                               

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Some practices have been in place for so long we can barely recall a time in life when we were committed to principles and valued morals more than money. There was a time when we would not forsake our integrity for the lucrative business of making money at the cost of our integrity. We valued the honor of God more than the riches of this world.

People are going after, riches, success and the temporary things of this world. They lose sight of the eternal and everlasting things of God- the souls of men. What will it profit to gain the whole world for 60, 70, 80 or even 90 years and spend everlasting eternity in hell? That Sir is no bargain, when people perish because they choose money and pleasure of this world over God.