Daily Devotional Details

Date

Lay up treasure for [yourself] as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that [you] may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:19 (NIV)

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.”

Two hundred years ago Thomas Chalmers preached a famous sermon called, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.” His point was very simple. The best way to overcome a misplaced love is not to simply deny it, but to replace it with something better.

The heart must have something to cling to. Its desire for a particular object may be conquered, but its desire for having some object of affection is unconquerable. The most effective way of withdrawing the mind from one object is by presenting to it another, 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 of the heart’s attachment, so that the heart shall be prevailed upon to exchange an old affection for a new one.

This is exactly what God does for us in the gospel. God holds out infinite love and eternal life. This new affection is birthed at the cross. Dying, He bears in Himself all the guilt and shame that keeps us away from God. Rising, He ascends to heaven, having prepared a place for us there. Learn to love Christ more and you will love money less.

What step or two could you take to grow your love for Christ and wean yourself from the love of money?