“You Can’t Worship God and Money Both”

Right after Jesus tells us to store up treasure in heaven and not on earth, he says these words. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” I have had a tough time understanding what Jesus is talking about. Now I think I have found out exactly what he means. He is talking about what we should desire. Henri Nouwen makes it seem clear to me. We are to love God, desire God more than anything. Otherwise our desire is divided and in the same way that blind eyes cannot see, we cannot focus on what we want. Jesus is telling us the same thing when he says, “You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.”

Here are the words of Nouwen: “Desire is often talked about as something we ought to overcome. Still, being is desiring: our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls are full of desires. Some are unruly, turbulent, and very distracting; some make us think deep thoughts and see great visions; some teach us how to love; and some keep us searching for God. Our desire for God is the desire that should guide all other desires. Otherwise our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls become one another's enemies and our inner lives become chaotic, leading us to despair and self-destruction.

Sometimes we behave like children in a toy shop. We want this, and that, and then something else. The many options confuse us and create an enormous restlessness in us. When someone says, "Well, what do you want? You can have one thing. Make up your mind," we do not know what to choose.

As long as our hearts keep vacillating among these many wants, we cannot move forward in life with inner peace and joy. That is why we need inner and outer disciplines, to go beyond these wants and discover our mission in life.”

I hope this helps you to understand what Jesus is telling us. Love God with everything that is in you. Then you discover the meaning of life, and it is not about accumulating things for yourself. It is about your mission in life, which is to love and serve God.