Letting Go of the Love of Money - Crosswalk Couples Devotional - May 6
Letting Go of the Love of Money
By: Amanda Idleman
"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.'" - Hebrews 13:5
Our world is obsessed with money. We are fixated on who has it and who doesn’t, worry about having enough of it, and spend most of our time working to acquire it. Money is at the center of our lives.
If we're honest, most of us desire it. We covet the over-the-top lifestyle of the rich and the famous. We daydream about how much better our lives would be if we had a more significant bank account. This desire, this obsession, and this love can even impact how we interact with our spouses. Desiring money over friendship, intimacy, quality time, peace, and thriving marriage is not an uncommon struggle.
Consider how much our cultures' push towards success defines the kind of relationships we nurture in our homes.
Are you constantly working those extra hours because you can’t make ends meet or because your heart greedily desires a grander lifestyle?
Are you both working full-time, fast-paced jobs because it genuinely is the desire of your hearts or because you can’t imagine contentment with less?
Is your marriage drowning under an endless pile of work or a mountain of debt that lustful spending has accrued?
Are you unwilling to forgive your spouse’s failures regarding money because you love that lost money more than them?
Are you keeping secrets about how you are spending your money, hiding your habits from your partner?
Do you feel like money is controlling your life?
Are you bitter towards your spouse for some way they have failed you in your finances?
Is your primary objective in life a financial win or are spiritual things guiding your life?
These are all subtle ways that the love of money can steal from our love for our spouse. God invites us to repent of our wrong-hearted approach to life. He tells us we must learn to look to Him for what we need, not trusting in our wallets but in the Lord. So many of us are stuck in life that one aim is to gain more money rather than gain a richer love filled life.
The key to keeping our hearts in check is embracing contentment. We can see how God is with us when we barely make ends meet. We can invite ourselves to live with generosity when we have more than enough for our families. When God is at the center of our budget, we can keep our hearts free from the love of money that is so common in our world.
At the end of the day, our choices as a couple should be made in obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Money should not control our marriages, the way we care for our children, or how we spend our days. It is a secondary concern, and our hearts need to primarily seek after God’s best for our lives.
Take time to meet with your spouse, asking for forgiveness for allowing money to take up more of your life than it should. Forgiving them for ways they have misused cash or let it control your home. Make a plan for how to work together to live with simplicity, contentment, presence, and trust regarding money.
Prayer: God, forgive me for putting money above my relationship with you and my spouse. Please help me to embrace contentment. Let me live a life that primarily seeks your will for my life before it seeks wealth. Empower me to forgive my spouse for ways they have misused money. Moving forward prompts our hearts towards a simplicity that values connection, generosity, and trust regarding our resources. Bring wisdom and conviction on how you can better love God over the money our world tells us is supreme! Give us your eyes as we assess our heart posture and our priorities. Amen.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/FediushkinaElena
Related Resource: Engaging with God in a Technology-Saturated World
Many of us feel hurried, and hurry is costing us more than we realize. The Unhurried Living Podcast with Alan and Gem Fadling provides resources and training to help Christian leaders learn to live and lead from fullness rather than on empty. After realizing the toll technology had taken on his connection with God, his community, and even himself, Carlos Whitaker took radical steps to disconnect in order to reconnect. He spent nearly two months living screen-free at a monastery, an Amish farm, and his own home, experiencing profound transformation along the way. If this episode helps you recenter your work and life on God, be sure to subscribe to Unhurried Living on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
