Day 5: The Temptation of Mammon – A Timeless Warning

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other… You cannot serve both God and Money.” – Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

Jul 11, 2025

That verse often has the term Mammon instead of money. Mammon is not just a word for money. It's a spiritual character, a force, and in the biblical imagination, a rival deity.

Jesus didn't say, "You can’t serve both God and greed." He said according to some translations, "God and Mammon." In doing so, He gave money a name, a persona—almost as if wealth itself could possess allegiance, demand loyalty, even inspire worship.

Why such strong language?

Because money is rarely just money.

It’s safety. It’s status. It’s control. It’s independence. It’s identity. And when those things become ultimate, money stops being a tool and becomes a master.

Mammon in the Modern World

We don’t build golden calves anymore, at least not literally. But we do have portfolios, compensation packages, appraisals, upgrades, and benchmarks. We measure success in net worth, retirement account balances, and how early someone “made it.”

None of these are evil. But all of them become dangerous when they quietly replace deeper sources of value.

Here’s how Mammon operates today:

In our language:
We call someone “worth” a certain amount, as if their value can be tallied on a spreadsheet.
In our identities:
We confuse what we earn with who we are.
In our decisions:
We defer to profitability as the final word—even when it conflicts with ethics, sustainability, or conscience.
In our institutions:
We reward short-term financial performance, even when it erodes trust or long-term wellbeing.

Mammon thrives in ambiguity. It doesn’t show up wearing horns. It shows up as “just one more deal,” “just a little more cushion,” or “I’ll rest once we’re secure.”

Why the Warnings Still Matter

Ancient scriptures don’t condemn money—they condemn the love of money, the worship of it. They warn us that money makes a terrible god: it never delivers what it promises, and it always wants more.

Here’s why this warning still matters:

Money amplifies what’s already in us.
It doesn’t just give options—it reveals priorities.
It numbs our sense of dependency.
The more money we have, the less we feel we need others—or God.
It breeds comparison.
There is no natural stopping point. Someone will always have more. And Mammon whispers, “Keep going.”
It can make good people do bad math.
Decisions that feel “reasonable” in financial terms may be ruinous in moral or relational ones.

As Thomas Aquinas noted, the sin of avarice isn’t just the desire for riches—but the disordered desire that subordinates everything else to it.

The Idolatry We Don’t See

One of the most dangerous things about Mammon is that it masquerades as wisdom.

A business decision to cut labor costs and increase margins? “Smart.”
Choosing career over family repeatedly? “Driven.”
Measuring success only by return on investment? “Disciplined.”

The problem isn’t in the words. The problem is in what they hide.

Mammon doesn’t have to shout. It wins when we stop asking questions.

What It Feels Like to Serve Mammon

Many people don’t even realize they’ve given allegiance to Mammon until something breaks:

The marriage frays because success was bought at the cost of time.
The health suffers because stress became a lifestyle.
The soul numbs because joy was outsourced to stuff.
The community thins out because ambition devoured presence.

What Mammon offers is not always evil. But it is insatiable.

It does not bless. It bargains. It does not rest. It demands. It does not free. It binds.

Freedom Through Realignment

Escaping Mammon isn’t about selling everything or rejecting material responsibility. It’s about reordering the hierarchy of what you serve.

Here are some practical signs that you're pushing back:

1. You know what “enough” looks like.

Not in theory, but in numbers. In lifestyle. In goals.

2. You give freely and consistently.

Generosity is one of the most powerful ways to dethrone Mammon.

3. You make financial decisions with others in mind.

Not just what works for you, but what’s just, fair, and community-building.

4. You treat people as ends, not means.

Whether you’re leading a team, closing a deal, or making a hire—your view of others reveals your view of money.

5. You find identity beyond your income.

You aren’t afraid of failure, demotion, or career change—because your worth isn’t priced in dollars.

Institutions Serve Mammon Too

It’s not just individuals. Entire companies, governments, and cultures can bend the knee.

When a business prioritizes shareholder returns over worker safety...
When a government sells influence to the highest bidder...
When a college becomes a marketing brand before it's a place of learning...

Mammon is being served.

Changing this means reintroducing virtue into the vocabulary of capitalism: humility, restraint, courage, justice. It means asking not just “Does it work?” but “Is it good?”

The Invitation: Reclaiming Money as a Servant

The real danger of Mammon is not that we use money—it’s that we forget to question why and to what end. When we no longer ask what our money is for, we risk becoming what it’s about.

So the invitation is simple, but radical:

Use money. Don’t worship it.
Earn well. But live wisely.
Save and invest. But hold loosely.
Build systems that serve people—not the other way around.

The goal isn’t guilt. The goal is freedom.

And freedom doesn’t come from escaping money—but from refusing to let it define you.

Up Next: Week Two Begins

As we begin Week 2 of The Unseen Forces, we’ll turn inward: to the moral dimensions of financial decisions, the spiritual psychology of markets, and what it might look like to build a more human capitalism.

Next up: “Financial Decisions as Moral Acts.” Until then, pause and reflect: not just on what you earn—but on what you serve.