Investment Idolatry
God created everything (Gen 1:1; Col 1:16). He sustains everything (Col 1:17; Heb 1:2–3). God is worshiped and glorified by His redeemed people (Jn 4:24). There is, however, an adversary (Satan), the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4), who wishes to direct humanity away from God. His schemes are evil, for they make potential idols of everything.
Idols are empowered by the demonic influences behind them (Rev 9:20). The fallen angels are servants of their leader, the devil. His craft is clearly seen, in the Genesis account of His deceiving Adam and Eve. They sinned against God; and strife between themselves, and among their progeny, became normative.
Idols are placed in front of people, just as the serpent was before our forerunners in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3). The allure is always the promise for the worshiper becoming a god (Gen 3:5). In other words, the demon uses the idol to give power to the most zealous adherents. The adhering worshiper gets more and more of the “blessings” from his or her allegiance to the idol.
Greed is idolatry (Col 3:5). It is the quest for more and more of what the idol can give. Take the very common idol of mammon (Mt 6:24). Money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim 6:10). Money has a profound effect upon those who serve it with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Remember, it is their god, who gives them power to become gods.
The lust for more money is manifest in a myriad of behavioral practices. The workaholic is one who serves his idol with great vigor. His identity and security are intimately linked to his first love. There is also the cheapskate, who manipulates people and situations to avoid capital outlays. The miser is a valiant defender, of the financial fortress he has built by his rude accumulation habits.
The material machinations of men expose the spiritual realities of who or what they worship. The futility of gaining the whole material world, while losing one’s own soul (Mt 16:26), is common fodder for the deceived accumulator of riches. Still, the hearts of the wicked are given to idolatry. They will do what comes most natural to their sin nature (Eph 2:3) The thief will steal. The one who measures weights will have a distorted scale. Did you read the fine print? Woe to you, lawyers!
If the devil and his legion of cohorts have been successful, they occupied the mind, the heart, and the vaporous life of a particular soul. They have kept the wretch enslaved to the sinful practices most conditioned in his visible rut. The hoarder has much, and so does the extreme coupon shopper. It costs her a fortune to save so much money, in the multiplied accumulation of things she does not need.
Time is also a telling tale of idolatry. The opportunity cost of something is the price you pay for not doing something else. The shrewd observer has noted that “time is money.” One who wastes time is like one who wastes money.
In the end, everything is forfeited by the idol worshiper, who hears the judgment, “You fool, tonight, your soul is required of you (Lk 12:20).” Then comes the true saying and ultimate reality check, “Vanity of vanities, it is all vanity (Eccl 1:2).”
The one alternative, to demon-inspired false worship of dumb idols, is Jesus Christ. He alone is the icon of God (Col 1:15), the perfect image of the holy and sovereign God (1 Tim 6:15). He is the one man we can worship because He is fully God (Jn 1:1; 10:30).
One’s investments, in a life fully given to the Christ of God, are the only ones that pay eternal reward dividends. For the one who stores up his treasure in heaven (Mt 6:19–20), there are also benefits here and now. The idolater finds little value in things such as: peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness or self-control (Gal 5:22–23). The servant of the Lord finds his needs met without the strife involved with serving idols (1 Tim 2:24).
True worshipers, of the one true God, discover the grace of God, supplying all that is needed for life and ministry in this world (2 Cor 8:14; 9:12; Phil 4:19). Serving God (Creator, Owner, Sustainer, Distributor, and Re-distributor, etc.) is a joy because of the privileged access, of seeing the invisible hand of providential care — always marked by love for His chosen people (1 Jn 3:16–17).
God is love (1 Jn 4:8), and He freely gives good gifts (Jas 1:17), without entangling strings that bind the idolater. God is a gracious giver of everything endowed for each slave’s stewardship. The slave of Christ relinquishes ownership claims unto his Lord, who even allocates the measure of faith to each one submitting his or her life to Him (Rom 12:3).
Christian, flee from idols (1 Cor 10:14). Beware of the cost of idolatry. The demons only wish for you to be so preoccupied with the things of the world that your vaporous life will be spent storing up worthless treasure on earth. The moth has already taken flight, and the rust is encroaching (Mt 6:19–20).
The wise investor seeks first the kingdom of God (Mt 6:33). He takes the minutes of each day and the mammon of unrighteousness and makes friends for eternal habitations (Lk 16:9). He serves his neighbor, who is serving the Lord alongside him, as the one who waters the seed planted by a fellow laborer. We are co-laborers with Christ in the reconnaissance of lost sheep (2 Cor 11:23; Col 4:12; 1 Thess 1:3; 5:12), until Christ is formed in them (Gal 4:19).
The promise of God is that He will never leave nor forsake the one who gives up his life in this world (Heb 13:5), that is, he who denies himself the pleasures of Egypt (world), for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Lk 9:23; Jn 12:25). Time, talent, and treasure are stewarded, as by one who must give an account to his Master (Mt 12:36; Lk 16:2).
On the day of the Lord’s judgment, will you be recognized as one who served and worshiped God, by your investments in His eternal kingdom here on earth? Or will you be found to have served and worshiped idols, by wicked stewardship of those things that never belonged to you in the first place?
Examine yourself, and repent with confession, if you have misplaced affections and misused material provisions to bolster your own self, in your appointed role as ambassador for Christ (2 Cor 5:20). Pray for God to re-ignite your faith, in order to once again lay down your life, so that you may re-gain life, indeed. Beloved, as it is written, keep yourself from idols (1 Jn 5:21).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 13, 2022
