For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. 1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)
Set your heart on enjoying what God gives you and on using what God gives you in the light of eternity.
How do you do that? How can you change what you love? How can you wean your heart away from the love of money, or comfort, or self? It doesn’t work to say, “Love money less!”
Thomas Chalmers preached a famous sermon called: The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. His point was simple: The best way to overcome a misplaced love is to replace it with something better.
Chalmers says, “The heart must have something to cling to. Its desire for one particular object may be conquered, but its desire for having some object is unconquerable. The most effective way of withdrawing the mind from one object is by presenting to it a more alluring object.”
You can’t change the human heart by telling people that the world is vain and worthless. You have to set before people another object of affection more worthy, so that the heart is willing to exchange an old affection for a new one.
That’s exactly what God does for us in the gospel! He holds out infinite love and eternal life. These new affections are birthed at the cross. Love Christ more and you will love money less.
When you have less, you will find yourself saying, “I am learning to be content. Christ is more to me than all the world.” When you have more, you will say, “How can I use what I have to serve Christ? Because Christ is more to me than all the world.”
Do you need to replace a misplaced love with something better?