Hebrews 13:5-6 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [6] So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

Love of money is one of the most pervasive roots of sin there are (money, pleasure, and power are THE big 3)!

The love of money is the trust in or dependence on money (any/every idol, really) to provide protection, provision, and/or purpose). When you look at someone or something (other than the biblical God) to be your foundation and hope for the 3 Ps then you are looking to a false hope, worshiping and idol, ‘loving’ money, pleasure, or power (or whatever flavor of idol you choose!). To love something is to do whatever it takes to get into a right relationship with or earn the favor of that thing.

Of course, ‘love’ properly defined is ‘the joyful willingness to sacrifice for the good of the beloved’ which is why ‘idolatrous love’ is so wrong because it turns love upside down.

So the preacher of Hebrews gives us (5) strategies to defeating this idolatrous ‘love’ of money:
1. “Be content with what you have”
Money is such a popular idol because it promises to buy anything and everything. But the trick to happiness has never been to have the best of everything. The trick to happiness is to make the best of everything. This is a heart capacity, not a wallet capacity. Contentment is born of thanksgiving for what we have. This is a choice. Certainly, we have needs. And God promises all we need to glorify him; but he doesn’t promise more than that.

2. “For he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
The rock hard basis for every promise in Scripture is: “I will be with them as their God and they shall be my people.” This promise is found worded like this or similarly from Genesis to Revelation!). His Presence makes every hardship a blessing, and every joy a breath of Heaven.

And because this promise is true we don’t need to amass a fortune or prep for every contingency. We need to love Jesus. Get close to Jesus.

“So we can confidently say,”
I use this as a preface for the following quotes because the Bible does not tire of calling us to remember. Because we so easily forget.

3. “The Lord is my helper”
God is at your side (2 Peter 1:1-9!). And he will give you what you need (Isaiah 41:10).

4. “I will not fear”
Fear is a choice just like love is. In fact, the two are opposites because love is willing to sacrifice and ‘lose’ so that the beloved ‘wins’. So, can you ‘fear’ something that ultimately benefits you? I suppose so. But that’s not the way it is supposed to be. Trust Jesus!

5. “What can man do to me?”
Kill you. Cause you great pain. Neglect you. Shame you.

All kinds of things: man’s evil knows (almost) no bounds.

And, God’s love is greater by far (seriously, take 5 minutes and seriously consider Romans 8).

I’ll wait.

And the point is that:

Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

What man and Satan mean to use to destroy us, God means to mold us into the son/daughter he created us to be. We are more than conquerors because not only do we overcome the trap and are not ultimately harmed, but God turns it on its head and uses that evil for our good (remember, God loves us!).

So, go about your day today rejoicing that you don’t need to be a slave to anything. Ever. Again.

Praise Jesus!!!