Family? Just Business?

“I’m doing it for my family.”

“It’s just business.”

How many times have I heard the above as an excuse to break one’s word? How many times have I heard it from professing Christians? How many times have these excuses been used to rationalize unfaithfulness to Jesus Christ?

It is as if the call to obey Jesus Christ and His commandments is optional and can be trumped anytime our economic interests are at stake. Life is not about seeing how much money we can amass, how many things we can acquire, how much entertainment we can consume, and how many people acknowledge us. Life, at least for the Christian, is about following Jesus Christ. At least that is what the Scriptures teach us – perhaps they are outdated?

If I follow Christ it stands to reason that there will be times of economic and material loss, for to follow Christ is to live contrary to the present age and the things it admires and values. Oswald Chambers wrote to the effect that we use our families and others as an excuse for disobedience, we say, “Surely God does not want my family to suffer, surely God knows that others will not understand my obedience to the commands of Jesus and the call to follow Jesus.”

Money (and other things) can be a narcotic; give us just enough not to dare obedience to Jesus lest we lose what we have; give us just enough so that we’ll want more. Give us more so we can own more, and so what we own turns around and owns us – then we will not be owned by Jesus and then we can easily rationalize away our disobedience. Of course God understands, of course He does. Of course Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross understands. Of course the saints suffering for Jesus elsewhere at this present time understand.

The Cross has been replaced by the dollar ($) sign and our hearts have been seduced.