So, When Do We Start Addressing the Whole God/Mammon Thing?

I've been a Christian for a lot of years. More years, in fact, than I was a nonChristian. But one thing I've found, one constant that seems to follow me from church to church, is the sheer refusal to follow Christ's admonition in Matthew 6:24 that you "cannot serve both God and Mammon". It hasn't been a reluctance; it has been a brazen, open recalcitrance to follow a passage of Scripture that cannot be translated out, even as they demand nonChristians follow passages that CAN be translated in a different manner.

I remember some years ago talking with an individual who proposed an intentional living community; a self sustaining village that he had envisioned. I pressed him for more of course, and as it turned out, the buy in was $60,000. Basically, to shed yourself of the need for wealth, you still needed to possess a reasonable share of it.

One of the biggest mistakes I have made as a Christian was in following the crowd because I hoped that somehow I would fit in with the crowd. That has put us in our present position, one which we are digging furiously to escape, but which will take some time and strategizing. It has in no small way compromised my health and certainly my happiness, as it has powerfully limited my ability to minister, something that's far more important than anything I could grind out on a mill.

But what frustrates me is being in a culture where the church thinks the absolute opposite. Where serving Mammon is considered to be a kind of Godliness, and where setting ministry aside for money is valued as a virtue. I'm not talking about meeting financial obligations; the Bible is clear that we owe those (which is why I'm working to get out from under them), but I AM talking about all of the extras we consider a part of our every day life.

Once we get free from our debt, one of the first things I want to do is to work to teach families how to transition "off the grid" so that they can live as God intended; serving Him and not the almighty dollar. But I'm running out of hope that there is a critical mass of fellow Christians interested in the same.