Emotions Reveal Devotion

Thinking Through the Connection Between Money, Anxiety, and Idolatry

A recent Sunday School panel discussion at our church had me thinking about the relationship between money, emotion, and idolatry.

The question I was assigned to answer expressed a desire in the hearts of those behind it to avoid elevating anything (including money) above the God who gives it. This was encouraging to see!

In working through the answer we were provided an opportunity to explore some important biblical truth we need to see if our hearts would remain devoted fully to the Lord.

How do we know we’ve made money an idol? What do anxiety, anger, and depression over financial issues reveal about our hearts? What does Scripture say about what we need when those things take hold?

So the question went. Each part represents an important aspect of the big picture in which money, emotion, and worship are all shown to be connected. What does all this reveal about what has captured your heart and mine?

In God We Trust?

Again, the question I set out to answer demonstrates a commendable, spiritually healthy sensitivity to idolatry, the worship of anything ahead of God.

We know as we trace through Scripture that to elevate any created thing to the place of God is offensive to him. The Old Testament teaches very clearly against the pursuit of idols before which ancient worshippers bowed, convinced that such man-made images could connect them to the things their hearts desired.

The New Testament shines even more light on the issue as it teaches more explicitly about the desires of our hearts. Whenever we worship and serve created things rather than our Creator, we violate the first commandment (cf. Matthew 22:37 ff.; Romans 1:25). Our “own desires” (James 1:14) quite easily move us into this dangerous, idolatrous territory.

It’s worth pointing out here that money is a created thing. In and of itself, however, it’s neither good nor evil. The love of money is what Scripture points us to as problematic (1 Timothy 6:10). Money, just like anything else in creation, can easily become an object of devotion for the things we perceive it can offer.

We might not look at money as the freed Hebrews looked at their golden calf, but we certainly look to it for the things we think it can deliver. Just think, for example of the rich man whose confidence is in the content of his coffers (Proverbs 18:11) rather than the God whose prerogative remains to give and take away (Job 1:21).

What Money Might Promise

Any time we seek to serve ourselves above God and others, we look to the things in creation to satisfy the various idolatrous lusts in our hearts. We look to avenues that will lead us to the satisfaction of these desires, what John categorizes as “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1 John 2:15–16).¹

Money can, for some people, mean financial stability and the comfort of knowing that, if the car breaks down or some other need comes up, they’re covered. A fleshly desire for such comfort no matter what ultimately roots our wellbeing in having money, which is why we get anxious (or angry, or depressed) when, “Here we go again, something else broke.”

What has anxiety over money revealed in that case? More dependance on money for our comfort, than on the God who gives that money to us. We’ve lost sight of the reality that, in Christ, he has promised to care for us on every occasion.

Similarly, if my heart is looking to be debt free because I think comfort comes from that condition, it’s quite likely going to be anxious or angry when I have to increase my debt to fix what’s broken. Money has, in some sense, been elevated to the place of the Messiah. That can never go well!

What if what we’re living for the materialism of this world, and love stuff. Anything that threatens our ability to fund that obsession has the potential to make us anxious. Can you see how the connection between money and anxiety actually leads us deeper, to examine what (actually, whom) we’re living for? More on that below.

Maybe our heart’s desire is to be well thought of by others. The fear of man has so ensnared us that we need to upgrade that <insert thing here> to maintain our own blessed image in the eyes of others. It’s indeed a dangerous place to be (cf. Proverbs 29:25)!

At that point, I’m actually using the money the Lord gave me to steward for his kingdom purposes to build my idol of self. I’ll even get unsettled—even angry—when someone challenges my approach to stewardship!

Who, in those moments, is life all about? None other than the unholy trinity: me, myself, and I. My wants are leading me to see whom I most want to worship, whose kingdom I’m most desiring to pursue.

Emotions Reveal Devotion

Hopefully you can see by now that anxiety (alongside any other emotion) functions as a “check engine light” on the dashboard of our lives. Noting when I’m anxious, angry, and/or sad will (as I apply Proverbs 4:23) move me to investigate why those “lights” came on.

In the process of such self-reflection (which may well at some point include the truth-in-love ministry of wise Christians who have my best in mind) I’ll inevitably confirm this simple reality: my emotions reveal my devotion.

I would put it to you simply at the point: if you’re anxious about money, beyond the level of godly concern you’re called to have as you entrust yourself ultimately to the Lord (cf. Matthew 6:25–33), your focus is idolatrous. It’s self-centred, not God-centred.

Sinful anxiety over money reveals your pursuit of it for self-serving purposes, not for God’s glory. You’re pursuing it for what worldly pleasure, position, or possession you think it can deliver.²

What If I’m an Idolator?

Here’s where the gospel ought to be so precious to the wayward people of God. God is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6–7).

On account of Christ’s perfect life, substitutionary death, life-giving resurrection, and present, ongoing work as our advocate before the Father, even our self-focussed, idolatrous pursuit of money will be abundantly pardoned.

Those who see, experience brokenness over, and turn from their misuse of God’s money will be wonderfully restored to serve him (cf. Proverbs 28:13–14). That should move us to freely confess our sin of making money more about our glory than his, and enjoy the forgiveness he grants as we call to mind that Christ died to free us from the worldly desires that keep us anchored in anxiety over monetary concerns (cf. Titus 2:11–12).

The Lord is gracious to lead us through situations in which the desires of our hearts are revealed (cf. Deuteronomy 8:2). As we’re led through those things and come to see where we might be tempted to forsake and replace him (cf. Jeremiah 2:13–14), we can bank on his grace to transform us.

What a blessing to see and forsake our financial anxieties and the misplaced trust they represent, as our hearts are redirected to see the Lord himself as our security and source of pleasure—no longer looking ultimately to the gifts he gives for satisfaction. As good as those gifts are, they are, along with the world, passing away.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:7).

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1. I’m borrowing the language of “avenues” and “idolatrous lust” from Dr. Nicolas Ellen’s fine work, With All Your Heart? Identifying and Dealing With Idolatrous Lust (Houston, TX: Expository Counseling Center, 2008).

2. These three “P’s” are taken from Jay Adams’ commentary on 1 John 2:15–17. See Jay E. Adams, The Gospel of John, The Letters of John and Jesus: The Christian Counselor’s Commentary (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 220ff.