The goal of a Christian counselor is to exhort Christians to apply the Scriptures to everyday situations. Over the years, I have adopted a principle that I often employ. It is a distillation of many Scriptures about money—given to us by Jesus and the apostles, stated in wisdom literature, and illustrated in many examples. The principle is this: Never let money be the bottom line. For many years, I have used this in counseling those about to make an important decision or have already made a bad one.

Scripture warns about the allure of money, which can be a hindrance to spirituality. However, money is a necessary part of life because we have to deal with the currency of our culture. We must work for a wage, buy and sell, save for the future, invest, and demonstrate generosity to others. Money is the tangible asset that we use every day in each of these endeavors. It certainly must be a consideration when making important life decisions. All other things being equal, money can be a determining factor. But we must be careful.

The Apostle Paul made it clear to Timothy, “Godliness is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:6-7). Money, wealth, materialism, greed—however you want to put it—is something to which we are all tempted. And though Jesus said, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” discontent, covetousness, and a desire for monetary gain, affect rich and poor alike. The love of money is not just an affliction of the rich.

Since we have to deal with money every day, and since there is an ongoing temptation to our flesh to ensnare us in materialism, we must be wise, for many decisions we make in life are affected by money,

I’ve seen this play out in many ways, but here is a typical but hypothetical scenario. A husband and father comes to me seeking counsel on a job that he’s been offered. His family has struggled financially, and an offer has now come that would pay him substantially more. That’s a good thing, right? But the job is in a distant state. He has no relatives, friends, or acquaintances anywhere in the state. The entire family is deeply entrenched in the church and community and has many extended family members living in the area. He has four children, two of whom are teenagers involved with many activities, have many good friends, and are well-established in youth ministry. His wife has a robust support system, is involved in ministry, is content with what they have, and has no desire to move anywhere.

My advice? I can’t tell him what to do, but I can give him a brief principle that is a distillation of numerous biblical principles: Don’t let money be the bottom line. What does he do? He moves his family to a distant state for the sake of money. As you can see, many other biblical principles are involved, but money wins out.

Here is another typical scenario I have dealt with too many times. A couple comes to me for counsel, revealing that they are living together. My biblical counsel is simple, for the Scriptures are clear: One of them must move out. The response I get is that it wouldn’t be financially feasible. It would be too hard. It would set into motion a series of financial costs that they just aren’t willing to endure. And so I tell them, “Don’t let money be the bottom line.” Since when does money trump simple obedience to the Scriptures?

Here’s one final scenario. A financially well-off church leader comes to me for advice about a business proposition. Two of his friends who are not Christians have invited him to invest in a franchise of a mid-west restaurant chain that wants to open its first site in the West. He has never been involved in the restaurant business, and even though his friends are not Christians, he says they "believe in God." He tells me that if he can get in on the ground floor of this business, he’ll be able to give more to the church and the building project. I share with him several Scriptures that speak to his situation, and finally, I say, “Never let money be the bottom line.” (This did not end well).

In each of these cases, because of money, Christians compromise clear biblical principles for pragmatism.

Many scenarios like this play themselves out in people’s lives. There is perhaps a higher principle involved here as well. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13). What we worship we serve, and what we serve we worship. 

We have one Master, and we are to serve Him only. But often, Christians pay lip service to God. It is easy to declare that we will make wise choices about serving God, but when the difficult tests come, we often resort to pragmatism over principle. We know the principles of the Scriptures, but we make the pragmatic choice, the one that works for us. We must do what is right, rather than what works. 

And often, that choice has to do with money. So my advice is this: Never let money be the bottom line.