God puts us into the right position so that we can be broken. Often God will not do anything for us according to our concept, and it may seem to us that God is not faithful. We may pray day and night and put our trust in the Lord, but eventually nothing comes out according to our earnest prayer. We may want to get a promotion on our job, but we may not get it. We may want to invest our savings to make some profit, but eventually we may lose money.

We should not spend or invest our money in a way that is not according to Christ. The Lord said that He sent us forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Who is trustworthy on this earth? Most of the people are wolves. The Lord also said that we have to be prudent as serpents and guileless as doves (Matt. 10:16). As sheep in the midst of wolves, we have to be prudent as serpents to escape being hurt by the wolves, and guileless as doves, not mixed with any evil intention and not hurting others.

Many people who put advertisements in the newspaper saying that they need someone to invest money into their businesses are actually preparing a net to trap people. To trust in such persons is foolish. If we entrust our money to such persons and lose our money, how can we blame the Lord for not answering us and not doing anything for us? Actually, the Lord in His sovereignty may allow us to lose our money, but when every cent is gone, God is still here. We may complain to God, but our complaining may be the best prayer, the most pleasant prayer to God. While we are complaining, God is rejoicing because He is causing all things to work together for good that we may be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son.

Whether we make money or lose money means nothing to God. Actually, money, mammon, is the incarnation of the devil. We may wonder how we can eat if we do not care for mammon. But the Lord said that we cannot serve God and mammon and that if we seek God and His kingdom, God will care for our needs (Matt. 6:24, 33).

One day the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians came to test the Lord Jesus by asking Him whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not. Then the Lord asked them to give Him a coin. This meant that the Lord Jesus did not have any money; instead they had it. The Lord asked them whose image was on the coin. When they said that it was Caesar's image, the Lord responded, "Render then the things that are Caesar's to Caesar and the things that are God's to God" (Matt. 22:21). The Lord Jesus did not have a Roman coin but asked them to show one to Him. Since they possessed one of the Roman coins, they were caught. Surely our Lord was free from the bondage of mammon. When the Lord said that we cannot serve God and mammon, this indicates that wealth or riches is the opponent of God, robbing God's people of their service to Him. To be free from the bondage of mammon to serve God is to live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ.

When Christ was living on this earth, He was under the killing of death every day. He refused to remain in any relationship in the natural life. This displayed His absoluteness for God in His humanity. When He was told that His mother, brothers, and sisters were seeking Him, He declared that those who do the will of God are His brother and sister and mother (Mark 3:31-35). Through His gospel service, the Slave-Savior made the believing sinners His spiritual relatives, who became His many brothers (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:11) in the house of God (Heb. 3:5-6) and His many members for the building up of His mystical Body (Eph. 5:30; 1 Cor. 12:12) to do the will of God.