Choose Your Master: God or Money

A couple of years ago I started having shoulder and upper back pain that just wouldn’t go away. I couldn’t figure out why. Had I slept wrong? Was it my office chair? Perhaps it was stress. Maybe I was just getting older (certainly not!).

Eventually I ended up in physical therapy. During one of my appointments, the therapist asked me a question I wasn’t expecting: “Can I see your purse?” My purse? I handed it over, slightly confused. She lifted it with one hand and with a shocked look, she asked, “How much does this thing weigh? This is WAY too heavy!”

Naturally, I defended myself, because clearly every item in there was essential. I’ve got a bad case of “you-never-know-when-you’re-going-to-need-it.” I reached in to find my billfold; my phone; gum; a book; a protein bar in case I got hungry; pens; mints; hydration packets; a necklace I forgot to take out for three months; tissues; medicine; Post-it notes; a AA battery for reasons I can’t explain; makeup; tweezers; a roll of stamps; not one, but two USB charging ports; loose change; receipts; and a random cord that belongs to absolutely nothing I own anymore. Apparently I had been carrying a small convenience store on my shoulder every day.

The funny thing is, I didn’t notice the weight because I carried it all the time. I had adjusted to it. I built my posture around it. But little by little, it was wearing me down.

I think we do this spiritually, too. We carry things we were never meant to haul around indefinitely–things like fear, comparison, the need to prove ourselves, the worry about money, the pressure to succeed, a constant craving for more. At first it seems manageable. We tell ourselves it’s necessary. These are just part of life. But eventually what we carry starts wearing on us.

It affects how we walk through the world, how we treat people, how we think, and how we see ourselves. We become weighed down without even realizing why. The issue isn’t that we’re weak, it’s that we’re overloaded. We’ve spent so much time carrying certain things that we no longer question whether they belong there in the first place.

The truth is, whatever fills our hearts eventually shapes our lives. If our minds are constantly consumed with fear, money, comparison, success, image, or the endless pursuit of “more,” it slowly changes how we see everything else. It clouds our perspective, and it darkens our ability to recognize what truly matters. Sadly, we don’t often notice it is happening because we’ve adapted to the weight.

At some point, we should ask ourselves what we’re carrying. My guess is that there are things we think will move us ahead in this life, but they are actually holding us back–holding us back from experiencing the joy and freedom that comes from finding our identity in Christ rather than climbing a corporate ladder or keeping up with the Joneses.