"The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the … deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." Matthew 13:22
In my last "upside down" blog I listed the above Matthew scripture but focused on the "worries of this life" but now, I will be hitting the other aspect that “chokes [the word] making it unfruitful” in our lives, which is the "deceitfulness of wealth". This little phrase needed a blog all its own :) I think the key word here is "deceitfulness"!! Not that "wealth" in and of itself is wrong but that it can be "deceitful" if we do not place it in the proper place in our lives. Another scripture to note along with this one is: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil...." (1Timothy 6:10) It doesn't say "money" is a root of all kinds of evil, it says the "LOVE" of money is the problem. The bottom line is, when MONEY becomes my focus and becomes an idol to me (definition of “idol” is anything that you look to as a source other than God), then it takes the place of God in my life and then the “deceitfulness” of wealth will cause me to start making decisions based on money, either the abundance or the lack of, instead of what God is telling me. Money can still be a problem to those who don't have it as well when all their attention and thoughts are consumed with the lack of it or how to get more. Again, the problem is where we position it in our lives. (“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21)
At this point you’re probably wondering "so where's the upside down aspect of this??” Well, we were all raised in this "world" and, from what I read in the Bible, God's view of money and the world’s view of money are polar opposites, “upside down” from each other you might say. If you think about it, money plays a very large role in today's society. We earn it, save it, invest it, raise it, spend it, give it, and steal it… It dictates what we do, where we go, what we have, where we live, who our friends are... Just to name a few of the ways money can consume us. So, it makes me wonder how much of the "worlds view" do we still retain once we are adopted into the Kingdom.
Ok, this is where it gets a little sticky. Am I saying that God is anti money or wealth? No, I really don’t think He is but God would not have put this scripture in Matthew (and many others like it) if our focus on wealth was not a very likely problem or issue for us. Before I go any further I want to step back a minute and look at the word “deceitfulness” or deceit again. Here is a definition I pulled off the web: Concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading. What I get from this definition is that we can very easily be blinded and not see, or even be aware of, the “distortion” or “hold” that money can have on us. Are we being mislead and deceived as to what importance money should have in our lives? This reminds me of the scripture in Deuteronomy that tells us to "... love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul ... lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them..." Deuteronomy 11:13-16 (NKJV). Basically what He is saying here is, “keep your eyes and your love fixed on ME because Satan will do whatever he can to mislead, distract, distort and confuse you to get your focus off of ME and onto something else” (i.e. other god’s/idols) and to be honest here, “money” is a HUGE distraction for many.
I believe that God truly does want to bless His people and sometimes He uses money to do that but I think where we go wrong is when we think it is for us alone and we HOARD it for ourselves with the “we earned it, we deserve it, it is mine to keep!” mentality (James 5:1-6). The more I get to know God the more I understand that He wants us to be “conduits” of His blessings to others, and not to keep it for ourselves. He says to us in Matthew 10:8 “…Freely you have received, freely give.” The “temporal” blessings of the Lord should be freely given out because they were freely given to us and basically are not ours to begin with and will not go with us when we die.
Another aspect of wealth is the thought that, if we have enough saved for our future, we won’t need to rely on God any more. Of course that is not a “conscious” thought for most of us but, if you really think about it, isn’t that what it boils down to? We don’t want to have to trust God to provide for us in our every day life. We don’t trust that He will give us what we “want”… so we take it upon ourselves to store away for the future… just in case God gets too busy or doesn’t provide when we need or want something. I think we should read Matthew 6:25-34 on a regular basis as a constant reminder of how God desires to provide for us. Remember when the Israelites were in the desert and God provided manna for them every morning? He told them not to pick up anymore than what they could eat that day or it would rot and be covered in maggots (eeewww). He wanted them to learn to TRUST and rely upon Him to provide for them each day, one day at a time. “… give us this day our daily bread…” Not only that but their shoes and clothes did not wear out either during the entire 40 years they wandered in the desert!! I believe that He STILL wants to do these things for us and wants us to trust Him for our daily bread, our manna… not to store up for tomorrow, like the world does, but to rely on Him for all our needs every day… one day at a time.
When we store up for ourselves for the future and are not a conduit of His blessings, it corrupts and stagnates us and we stop relying on our heavenly Father and instead we start looking to “money” as our source. I heard someone refer to the Dead Sea in that regard. There is no outlet (flow through) so all the fresh water that comes into it stagnates and becomes useless for anything to grow and flourish. I think it is the same way for God’s blessings in our life. If there is no “outlet”, if we are not conduits of His blessings, then the blessings stagnate and we become useless, not growing in Him or blessing others and then we can become corrupted in the process. Kind of like the maggots in the manna.
Just so you don’t think I am making this stuff up, I have listed some scriptures on riches, wealth and treasures below so you can get a really good idea of how God feels about this:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matthew 6:19-24
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry...” Luke 6:24-25
“Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them this parable. “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' “Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." Luke 12:15-21
“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God
“He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:52-53
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver… You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-11“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 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.” 1Timothy 6:6-17
And if you want even more, see also:
James 1:9-11
James 2:5-7
James 5:1-6
So, to wrap this up, I think we can safely say that the “deceitfulness” aspect of wealth is that we believe that these blessings are “ours” to keep, hoard and store up for ourselves so that we don’t need to look to God anymore. This is “upside down” from what God desires for us. He asks us to look to HIM, and Him alone, for ALL of our needs to be met, and for us to be a “flow through” to the people around us so that He can be a blessing to others with the blessings He gives to us.
Father, I pray that You would give us all a revelation of the areas that money (or the love of it) may have gotten a hold of us and allowed the enemy to deceive us. Please reveal the truth of the deception as well as the truth of Your desire to provide for us in all ways one day at a time. Help us to trust You more and more for our daily provision and learn to look to You for all of our needs. Please take the blinders and veils away from our eyes and help us to see clearly any deception Satan may have convinced us of, in Jesus name, amen.
“You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelations 3:15-18
