“Treasures on earth” are material possessions. A rich person would be known by their expensive clothes and jewelry as well as large and expensive homes. A moth (σής) destroys clothing (which is why we use cedar chests and moth balls to keep them away). Sometimes this word is translated as “wood worm” since moths really only destroy clothing, which is not specifically mentioned by Jesus. Rust (βρῶσις) destroys metal, although gold and silver cannot rust (silver can tarnish, but that is different than rust). “Rust” was translated “worm” or “vermin” in some translations (NIV 2011) since it refers to eating or consuming something. A third risk to material possessions is theft. All we are doing by storing up treasure on earth is keeping it for someone to break in and steal. In each of these three examples, material possessions are temporary. Even the most durable treasures like gold or silver will fade away or be stolen by others.
The contrast is with “treasure in heaven.” The things which destroy earthly treasures cannot harm heavenly treasure. Jesus is speaking metaphorically, our good deeds do not generate literal wealth in heaven (and it is certainly not being assembled into a great mansion for you to live in when you get there!) Jesus says our loyalty and behavior should reflect a heavenly perspective, not a temporal earthly perspective. The idea is that all behavior is either for God or not, with no in between ground. You are either storing up treasure in heaven or on earth, and the disciple is to be about the business of storing up the treasures in heaven.
The concept of “treasures in heaven” was common in Jewish thinking, Jesus is using a metaphor that would have been understood immediately by his listeners to mean proper God-honoring behavior.
This is important because our earthly treasure reveals our true loyalties. Jesus says that wherever your treasure is, there your heart is also. What he means is that most people are smart enough to know where they are getting their rewards, and that they will put their effort into the place where they are gaining reward. Salesman make their money by selling, so a good salesman will get to know what kind of person is there to buy and which is there to browse. In a similar fashion the disciple is being told here to know which behaviors and attitudes are worthy of heaven and stick to them.
Scot McKnight draws a contrast between the wealthy and powerful Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57) and the wealthy young man whom Jesus told to sell all his possessions (Matthew 19:16-30). Joseph was focused on the coming kingdom and used his wealth wisely, the young rich man could not (Sermon on the Mount, 207).
Since Jesus has already warned his disciples they will be persecuted on account of the r testimony, this warning on wealth is especially important. When the Jews were persecuted in Rome, the first phase was loss of possessions. For some of the early Jewish Christians this was enough to drive them away from Christianity and back to Judaism.
Hebrews 10:32-35 indicates some Jewish Christians in Rome had been subjected to insult and confiscation of property. If possessions really indicate the content of one’s heart, then Jesus warns his disciples to not place their confidence in material possessions since those will not endure. These disciples live out this principle in the book of Acts. They live a voluntary life of poverty as they await the return of Jesus. This sometimes involved selling property (land, etc.) in order to support the community (Acts 2:45; 4:32-5:10).
Jesus’s words are perhaps shocking to American Christians (especially at Christmas, when this could be considered treasonous!) Rejection of western materialism is difficult since we like to have “nice things.” Wealth is not inherently evil, but the love of money is indeed the root of all evil.
Reblogged this on James' Ramblings.
“For the love of money is the root of all evil…” having money and being wealthy is a tricky subject to manage. Of course we want to be financially set, not having debt and being stable. However, too much money can cause greed and discontentment. It seems as though having more money would eliminate the desire of ‘want’ but it’s the exact opposite. often times (because we are sinful) having more money causes us to want even more and are never satisfied with what we have. Anything and everything has to be ours and money can make us do anything. For example, people who are in debt because of selfish desires and wants caused by money creates discontentment, greed and more problems that will affect relationships and other areas of life. Wealth is not a bad thing if handled and properly dealt with — God wants us to be fulfilled but money is not what ultimately gives us this status. Money can help and the trick is to use it for the Kingdom and for eternal purpose and not selfishly.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and hate the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Luke 16:13).” Money in a sense is worthless. This is cliché but money can’t buy happiness or peace. Money can be used to buy some nice stuff like a new sports car or the newest videogame or a big house, or maybe a long vacation somewhere far away. I will admit that all of those things sounds great. But what good is money when it can’t be used to buy the important things in life? “And all your money won’t another minute buy (Dust in the wind-Kansas).” What good is money when you have no one else to share your wealth with? When the time comes a rich person is buried in the same size grave as a poor person. Money is a resource and all of our resources come from God. But the devil uses the good things God gives us and turns them into bad things. the warning about having too much wealth doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want us to be taken care. But what he is warning us is that too much wealth will distract us from him.
I really relate this passage to “the love of money being the root of all evil” God doesnt want us to greed or lust over money but at the same time we all want to be stable so i can see how its hard to find a stable balance between the two. Its also hard because in this generation your social status and how popular you are in a community most of the times revolves around your financial wealth. But instead of us just being rich God wants us to be rich in our hearts. Having wealth or the want to obtain money can distract you from what really matters.
The concept that our earthly treasure reveals our true loyalties is interesting. We often think that we don’t put anything here on earth as treasures in our eyes as christians because we try so hard to keep Christ at the center of everything. That is not meant to be hurtfully sarcastic. It is true. We try, and we fail. Often we are in denial as to what those treasures are. For a lot of us this treasure is in fact money. It can get you what ever else you want, including if you seek to accumulate other treasures in your life. This is all one giant cycle of pursuit in our lives for contentment in these earthly treasures – but what happens when you finally get what you want here on earth?
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and hate the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Luke 16:13).” Unfortunately we are often ruled by money and earthly materials even though Jesus reminds us that such things are temporary. It truly is the root of all evil. Our lives revolved around a six inch by two inch piece of paper. It is important to remember that being aware of what we value, or our ‘treasures’, says a lot about where our heart is. “Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’” (Luke 12:15). “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5). When it comes to money and materialistic items, more is never enough. We never seem to be satisfied with what we have and always want more. When we become more concerned about materialistic and earthly things our hearts can turn cold and we can become greedy. We forget the importance of being compassionate and generous. We cannot be ones who let their perspective be distorted by materialism and become blinded to God’s truth. We are either all in or all out. Just as the blog mentions, our behavior is either for God or it is not. We can either love money or love God. There’s no in between.
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The concept that our earthly treasure reveals our true loyalties is interesting. We often think that we don’t put anything here on earth as treasures in our eyes as christians because we try so hard to keep Christ at the center of everything. That is not meant to be hurtfully sarcastic. It is true. We try, and we fail. Often we are in denial as to what those treasures are. For a lot of us this treasure is in fact money. It can get you what ever else you want, including if you seek to accumulate other treasures in your life. This is all one giant cycle of pursuit in our lives for contentment in these earthly treasures – but what happens when you finally get what you want here on earth? You are content for a little while until you find something else that you absolutely must have or treasure more than the current treasure that you have. So when will we be content in a treasure? I think this is what Jesus is trying to explain to us. That we will not be content until we reach eternity with him because that is the ultimate treasure that we should be investing in and putting our loyalty in. McKnight refers to treasures as “the accumulation of things as a focus of joy” (McKnight, pg.206). So shouldn’t our joy come from the one eternal treasure and not the accumulation of earthly things? I believe this is what Jesus is trying to get at in Matthew 6:19-24.
This is a hard topic of discussion in our materialistic world. It is almost impossible for us to wrap our minds around what life would’ve been like during the time of Jesus. We don’t understand the concept of not having clean clothes or not having a fridge full of food. We are privileged, which puts us in a place of comfort. Therefore, we have to be more intentional when Christ calls us to embrace the difficulty and discomfort that comes with follow Him and proclaiming the Kingdom. This does not mean that we cannot have things or enjoy having money, but we must take initiative in guarding our thoughts and desires in regards to having things and money. Matthew 6:19-20 says, ““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” When I read these verses, I have to stop for a moment and ask myself what it means to store my treasures in heaven. How do I store my treasures in heaven when I live in a world that advertises like crazy and shouts material wealth? McKnight answers this question perfectly, “the word ‘treasures’ here surely involves possessions, but it is not the same as possessions. Instead, it refers to the accumulation of things as a focus of joy. It refers to the spirit of acquisitiveness or the desire to acquire” (206). To me, this means remembering that the possessions I have are temporary and will never compare to the joy I can find in Christ. When I try to joy find outside of Christ, I am misled and will be disappointed in the long run. Only Christ can completely satisfy us and what He provides for us is far greater than anything we can acquire in the world. We are reminded of this in Romans 14:17 which says, “for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Overall, I think that Jesus is simply telling us that what He has to offer is the best. It is not a hard concept. I think we make it way too complicated, possibly because we have hearts that are always desiring more. But, when we choose to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ then we will experience freedom from this world and the gift of joy.
The comment of “wherever your treasure, there your heart is also” stood out to me, as in our materialistic world, many of us get caught up in material things such as having a lot of money, nice clothes, a big house, etc. But the reality of this all is that those who treasure the material things are putting their heart on earth, and not treasuring the Creator that put everything into motion. McKnight talks about how the word ‘treasure’ involves not only material possessions, but the accumulation of things as a focus of joy (p. 206). Matthew 6:19-20 reminds us that if we store up treasures on earth, they will rot, rust, get stolen, destroyed, etc., but the treasures we store up in heaven will never be destroyed or stolen. Consistently we see in scripture that the riches we have on earth will go away, and we certainly cannot take them to heaven with us, for what use is money or a nice car in heaven? Therefore we need to focus on the eternal treasure that we get to spend with God, and should continuously seek to serve our God and look toward learning more about Him.
For the love of money is the root of all evil….” Money is a necessity in the world we live in today. You need it to get places. However, you don’t need to love money. And this is where God is getting at. When we accept Christ into our hearts, we are 1. Making Him priority in our lives and serving him. 2. Are trusting that He has a plan for us. When Christmas rolls around money is the hardest topic to discuss. How are we to deal with our money in a Godly way? How can we not love out money? When we think of money as a status, like if I have a million dollars, and everyone else has ten dollars. I am probably going to think of myself as a higher individual as other people. Causing myself to be greedy, and or selfish. Which is wrong. God wants us in this life to give to Him what is needed. I think of this as something as when it comes to going to church, are we tithing our money? Are we not going to go to the movies every week in order to give our 10 percent? God doesn’t want to see us fail in this life. He wants to love us. Money can be an easy downfall into a life of sin. Be careful with it.
Luke 18 which addresses the Rich Ruler strikes me when thinking about the “American Dream” and how we approach wealth. The ruler approaches Jesus and says, “Good teacher” (Luke 18) to which Jesus says “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” This was not the initial answer the man is looking for. I think this is something that we do all the time. We try to make someone feel special and give them respect because we want something from them. The rich ruler is looking for an answer and he is approaching Jesus as someone might approach someone who has something they want to buy. Jesus at this moment isn’t saying don’t be respectful when addressing someone but rather He is addressing the man’s “brown-nosing” to get what he wants. Then Jesus goes on to address the important message he is communicating which is it’s “hard… for the rich to enter the kingdom of God (Luke 18). The idea of selling all your possessions is something completely contrary to the American dream. We sell the idea that everyone should own as much as possible and try to accumulate as many ‘things’ as possible. This is completely contrary to Jesus’ message.
This teaching of Jesus shows that which John 2:25 tells of… that Jesus has a perfect understanding of human nature. Because of the sinful tendencies that reside in all human persons, greed, jealousy, theft, and idolatry can all come from a person who loves money more than they love their fellow brothers and more than they love God. Jesus knows that – while money itself is not evil, nor is it evil to have money – people will inevitably fall into sin if they are too focused on money. The best solution, then, is to rid oneself of that which causes a person to sin, much like Jesus’ teaching to throw away the right hand if it causes sin in Matthew 5:30. This is also similar to Jesus’ teaching that prayer should be done in private to ensure one does not pray for their own glory.
So then, it is better to forbid oneself from greedily hoarding vast earthly wealth than to allow wealth to seize control of the heart. Though it is against no law, the law does not determine morals, but rather it should be the other way around (McKnight 74). And though it is not a sin to have money, it is a sin to allow the pursuit of money to become more important than the pursuit of God. It is also important that the hate of money (and those who possess it) does not come before God. Many people (especially those who align with Marxist views that the primary mover of history is the struggle between the rich elites and the working class), must ensure that their views on millionaires and billionaires do not turn to hatred and covetousness, as they then would be committing sins.
In order to fulfill this command properly, perhaps it is best to simply choose to distance oneself from money in the first place. The best way to do this, of course, is to pursue higher education.
Somebody once told me, “the things that you spend most of your time for becomes your god(s)”. When people become consumed with greed and value possessions of the world they show that these things are their god. Instead of devoting time towards God and glorifying him, people spend their time acquiring possessions and seeking gratification in wealth. I think that it is very easy for a person to lose themself and become greedy because of how materialistic our world is. Even at a young age, kids develop the idea that what you have essentially determines your value. For example, kids believe that by having expensive clothes or owning the newest phone will make them be seen as higher status by their peers, and this idea is reinforced by advertisements as well. However this idea of materialistic items determining the value of people does not stop at childhood, but exist with adults too. It is all about having the nicest house and car, and having a luxurious lifestyle so others can see it. It is important for us to remember that everything here is just temporary, while God is everlasting.
The wealth debate is always one that, for me, stirs up mixed emotions. On one hand our culture drives us to consume, to purchase, to work, all so that we can have a comfortable life. The other hand is Jesus’ command to the rich young ruler. For the disciples, giving up everything they had and following Jesus was extremely tangible. They literally followed him around. This is the same for the rich young ruler, he had an opportunity to physically follow Jesus and witness his ministry. What does this mean for modern Christians? Does giving everything up literally mean give all possessions over to charity and live in the untouched forests of Alaska? To answer this question would not be possible if we looked just at the story of the rich young ruler. Throughout scripture God blesses individuals with wealth. We see that in Solomon, in Joseph of Arimathea as mentioned, and we see it in Joseph being a ruler in Egypt. All rich men, but rich men who used their wealth and power for God’s cause. Just a little further in chapter 19 of Matthew, Jesus tells us that it is harder to for a rich man to go to heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. I’m not sure that Jesus is talking about the possession of wealth but the rather where our hearts are in regard to our wealth. Can we lose all that we have and still praise God?
A great example of storing up wealth in heaven is the life of Job. A man who actually HAD all the wealth imaginable in his day, wealth in family, in materials, land, and cattle. Despite his terrible turn of events Job decided that he knew his heart was not in those things, not in his money or even his own health, it was directly turned to the heart of God and he was so passionate about honoring Him with his life, the loss of all of his wealth was insignificant. Christians know that no works can make God happier with us or want to love us more, but we do these things in honor of Him. We serve and live our lives for Christ because there is no greater thing worthy of our time and effort, as a response for His great love and sacrifice for us.
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 3:15) I think that this verse is so incredibly important when it comes to not only wealth but worldly possessions. In the blog, it mentions that there are multiple reasons why there are warnings against wealth. I like how it mentions that a rich guy is known for his wealth, when people think of that person they think about how wealthy they are. Another warning against wealth is that it could potentially tempt people to theft. When people get greedy with money or worldly possessions and that is all they care about they will sometimes do anything to be able to get that including theft. I think that it is extremely important to be wary of money, power, and worldly possessions because they can distract you from your purpose of being on Earth. We are called to be Jesus’s light of the world. There’s so much sin and darkness in the world that it is so important for us Christians to be the light of the world. “Finally, the followers of Jesus are to let their light shine in the world so that people will see this and glorify the Father.” (Long) Wealth and worldly possessions will never satisfy you and keep you searching for stuff that in the end doesn’t matter. The only thing that will satisfy you is Christ himself.
There is a verse that goes well along with this that speaks on how we cannot serve more than one master. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and hate the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Luke 16:13).” This verse I believe helps summarize this section because money is a big thing that we as humans create a master. We focus so much on getting money and getting rich that a lot of the time we fail to keep our focus on Him. As you said, it is not inherently wrong to be rich and gain wealth, it is only wrong when you “worship” that and make it your main focus in life. Personally, I have been seeing this more and more in the world with the popularity of social media people are constantly comparing and needing the next best thing. This also can be connected to the commandment that we are not to covet. People see the material thing that one person has and they instantly want that and make it their mission to get that so they can be fulfilled. But, if we really were not of the world we would not have this problem because we would be completely fulfilled in our security and relationship with our Father. Money is one of the easiest things to fall to because it is needed to live a lifestyle that nearly everyone in the world would prefer over the opposite. People want to live in comfort and security rather than questioning where the next meal is going to come from. It is important to work and gain wealth we cannot focus on how much wealth and put that over our faith.
As a society, I believe we really struggle with the love of money. We place more attention working and protecting our wealth than we place on following God. I like how McKnight tells us to examine Jesus. He had nothing and traveled to many places that had more than he did. He was not concerned with worldly possessions. He was more focused on the things that matter in Heaven which is the salvation of others and good works. We are called to focus our attention to obtaining things that are eternal. McKnight says, “This means we are led to ask what lasts, and what lasts is love” (McKnight, 207). He includes the passage of 1 Corinthians 13. This passage is short but talks about love. It says that love is patient, kind, does not envy or boast, is not arrogant or rude, and it bears all things. Love can be complicated. However, if we focus so much time on obtaining wealth, we lose sight of what really matters. Loving others. God even calls us to love our enemies. Matthew 5:44 says, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” One either loves God or loves money (McKnight, 210). We cannot do both. This does not mean wealth is sinful or evil. God wants us to work hard in life. However, when our focus is more on that than on God, that is when it becomes an issue.
McKnight, Scot and Longman, Tremper, (2016). The Story of God Bible Commentary. Sermon on the Mount. Zondervan.
I think that this blog post really highlights the importance of devotion and intentions behind one’s faith.
It is mentioned that our treasures on earth reveal where our loyalties lie – where our heart lies. This sounds a little off topic, but this created the image of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob in my mind. In this, Mr Krabs only focus in life is what he has, and what he can gain – “money money money”. He prioritizes this over relationships, well-being, anything – he’ll do everything for the chance of gaining more. This may be an extreme example, but it really does show how much sin can come from material things. Proverbs 1:19 states, “such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it.” We can either have wealth at our center, or we can have God, and only one will truly satisfy our needs. As Christians, the ability to be well off isn’t sinful – it’s how we think about it, how we approach it, and how important it is to us. It’s where our devotion is.
Another image that also popped into my head was the treasures of Heaven. When I was very little, I had the image of us all getting a crown when we entered into Heaven depending on how well we did on Earth (which of course is very inaccurate, as stated in the blog post and in scripture). However, I think it also brings reflection as to why we do what we do. Are we following God for the rewards? Are we following God to avoid Hell? Are we following God because it looks good? Are our hearts and faith in the right place? I think that this sermon is a good reminder that at the end of the day – at the end of our lives – what matters most is how faithful we are to God. Putting on a heavenly mindset over our materialistic mindset is important to clear up our priorities, intentions, and devotions within our lives.
I think that in some ways we can almost think of wealth on a balance as Christians meaning that if we load the scale with earthly possession than we may be consumed by greed, and not receive the eternal treasure of heaven on the other end of the scale. Especially in the modern world, monetary wealth is so coveted, and we are inherently greedy as a culture, it becomes easy to lose sight of what we are doing. Understanding the temporary nature of our wealth makes it much easier to stop our greed from taking over, but we often lose sight of this. Material possession while being a symbol of earthly status, come between us and God, and make it increasingly hard to follow Christ and adhere to his word. A common theme in these versus is also the idea that material possessions rot, stale, and break. Possessions are futile in the grand scale of our lives, and their worth and value to us diminishes quickly, not even necessarily because we are mortal and die, but because we grow tired of them, and we are unsatisfied with them. Helping others, and building relationships is more impactful for our lives, and more satisfying than pursuing earthly desires and chasing wealth. While a baseline of economic wealth is required to stay alive in the world, we should be wary of not taking it too far and should temper our inclinations of becoming wealthy with greed.
Wealth in our society is something of a priority – even if you are not that wealthy, you want to appear as if you are. This can come in many different forms, everyone wants the latest iPhone, the coolest shoes, expensive cars, big houses, etc. From a person that has been subject to judgement based on things I owned, you want to appear as if you are wealthy and can afford all of life’s pleasures. I think Jesus’ message on this desire for Earthly treasures is a good warning to our society. In the sermon on the mount says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 9: 19-20). Jesus wants us to be more focused on the “treasures of Heaven” – things that we will receive reward in by the Lord when we are no longer inhabiting the Earth because as Dr. Long explains we put our loyalties in things we know there is a reward available. McKnight furthers this standpoint by explain that the things we should value in our life comes from a perspective of morality and eternity. He says, “We can begin to focus on the eternal if we live to love God and others (the Jesus Creed), if we pursue justice as the way we are called to love others as God’s creations, if we live out a life that drives for peace as how loving people treat one another, and if we strive for wisdom instead of just knowledge or bounty” (McKnight 282). I think, as a Christian, we should not be advocates for flaunting wealth of the world. And this idea is very convicting to me as well because I do enjoy purchasing nice things for myself in others, but as like everyone else I have to remember that those things are not going to last me very long on this Earth.
This story can be very controversial, when in all reality, it shouldn’t be. At its core, it seems to be about where your heart is, and if your heart is in the wrong place, make it so it is in the right place. Obviously giving up all of your material possessions would be far from an easy task, and for the people that do this and live in solitude, like monks, is incredible. Money is not a source of evil, but as it says, the love of money is. When you put other things in front, and idolize, instead of God, it is wrong. It even says this in the 10 commandments. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with wealth, or wanting to be wealthy, but the main issue, is what you desire with it. Money is a key part of the world, and also something that is needed to do ministry on a large scale today. If you were able to run a church, or a camp without having to spend a dollar, those ministries would want to do that, assuming the heart of the ministry is in the right place.
In the Bible, we can find several verses on wealth. Hebrew 13:5 states, “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.” Often, we can lose sight of the things above and focus on the pleasures of this earth. Yet, by doing this, we lose focus on God and put other things before Him. I agree with your statement (P.Long), “This is important because our earthly treasure reveals our true loyalties.” This statement is very true; people are usually never content with what they have and desire to have more. It’s like a never-ending cycle. God wants us to put Him first and prioritize our relationship with Him. For believers, at the end of life our final destination is Heaven therefore, we should be focusing on that. “In other words, the poor in spirit love God enough to trust God, love the self aright, and love others enough to form alliances of hope, compassion, and justice” (McKnight, 2013).
Reference
Mcknight , S. (2013). The Story of God Bible Commentary: Sermon on the Mount . Zondervan.
We as humans have always struggled to deal with wealth and the pressures it brings. The first thing that came to mind after reading this post was the story about Jesus asking the rich man to give up all of his possessions in Matthew. “Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” (Matthew 19:16-24). Here is a perfect example that can be applied to our lives today. Jesus tells the man that he just needs to give all of his possessions away and he would have had eternal life, but the man couldn’t do it. This is a clear message to us from Jesus that earthly wealth and possessions really don’t matter.
This is a remarkably interesting topic, I think that money is not a source of evil, but as it states, the love of money is considered evil. When you put other things in front, and idolize, instead of God, it is wrong. It says this also in the 10 commandments. I think it has a lot to do with how your mind and heart are. When or if your heart leads you to the wrong place, it is important to follow the path back, so it is in the right place. Clearly giving up all our material possessions would not be an ideal thing. God should not come second or third to materialistic things or money, I believe that if you put your faith in God and live life the right way and have a strong relationship with God then you will receive everlasting blessings, Love, and Grace.