Money, Love, or Jesus: What Really Has the Most Influence Over Your Life?

Yesterday I found myself pondering a simple question that is not simple at all: what has the most influence over our actions — money, love, or Jesus?

That question sounds like something you could answer quickly in a Sunday school class. The correct answer is obvious, right? Jesus. Of course Jesus should have the most influence. We know the right words. We know the scriptures. We know what we are supposed to say.

But our lives often tell the truth before our mouths do.

We make decisions every day. Where we go. What we wear. What we watch. What we buy. Who we call. Who we avoid. What we compromise. What we defend. What we excuse. Every action is serving something. The question is not whether we are being influenced. The question is who or what is doing the influencing.

When Money Starts Making the Decisions

This thought hit me during an encounter at the mall. There was a young woman working in one of those open booths, and her face looked defeated. She did not look excited. She did not look passionate. She looked like she did not want to be there at all, but something had pressured her into that place.

I do not know her story. I do not know her bills. I do not know what led her to that job. So this is not about judging her. It is about recognizing something we have all felt in different ways: money can become a powerful master.

Jesus said it plainly:

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other... Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” — Matthew 6:24, KJV

Mammon is not just cash in a wallet. It is money functioning like a god. It is provision turned into an idol. It is the pressure that says, “Compromise here, and you will survive.” It is the voice that says, “Just do this one thing. Just ignore that conviction. Just lower the standard. You need the money.”

That pressure is real. People enter industries they never imagined entering because bills are loud. People lie, steal, flirt, perform, manipulate, and numb their conscience because money promises relief. Some sell drugs. Some sell their bodies. Some sell their integrity in a respectable office and call it business.

The forms are different, but the question is the same: who is Lord?

“For the love of money is the root of all evil...” — 1 Timothy 6:10, KJV

Notice Paul does not say money itself is the root of all evil. Money can buy groceries, pay rent, support ministry, and help the poor. The danger is the love of money. The danger is when money becomes the thing we obey.

When Love Starts Making the Decisions

Then there is love — or at least what people call love.

On a recent trip to Target, I noticed how much effort some people put into being seen. Everybody looked ready for a talent scout to discover them between the laundry detergent and the cereal aisle. Meanwhile, I was in sweats, sporting a goatee, and I had not even checked whether my shirt was on the right way.

It reminded me of a conversation with a woman who said she spent considerable time getting ready every day just in case she met her soulmate, even if she was only going to Wal-Mart.

That sounds funny, but it also reveals something. The desire to be loved can shape our choices just as strongly as the desire for money. People change their clothes, their speech, their values, their friends, their boundaries, and sometimes even their beliefs because they want to be wanted.

Love is powerful. God made us for relationship. It is not wrong to desire marriage, friendship, belonging, or affection. But when the desire for human love becomes greater than obedience to God, it becomes another master.

Jesus said:

“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me...” — Matthew 10:37, KJV

That verse sounds intense because Jesus is not playing games with divided loyalty. He is not saying we should stop loving people. He is saying no human relationship can sit on the throne that belongs to Him.

If a relationship requires you to disobey Jesus, that relationship is asking for worship. If someone’s approval matters more than God’s command, that person has become too powerful in your heart.

The Compromises We Make for Money and Love

Think about how much people will sacrifice for money. They will wake up early, stay late, endure humiliation, move across the country, change their schedule, learn new skills, and put up with people they do not even like.

Think about how much people will sacrifice for love. They will lose weight, buy clothes, change habits, drive long distances, write songs, cry all night, wait by the phone, and rearrange their whole life around one person’s attention.

Now ask the hard question: do we sacrifice like that for Jesus?

Do we rearrange our schedule to seek Him? Do we turn away from sin because He is worthy? Do we endure discomfort to obey His word? Do we care what He thinks more than what people think? Do we give up things we want because He asked us to follow Him?

This is where the Sunday school answer gets tested.

Jesus said:

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” — Luke 9:23, KJV

Daily. Not once at an altar. Not only when the music is playing. Daily.

Have We Left Our First Love?

Revelation gives us a sobering warning. Jesus spoke to the church at Ephesus and said:

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works...” — Revelation 2:4-5, KJV

This church had works. They had labor. They had patience. They could not bear evil. They tested false apostles. They had discernment. And yet Jesus said they had left their first love.

That should make us tremble.

It is possible to be religious and still have your heart drift. It is possible to know doctrine and lose devotion. It is possible to do Christian activity while money, approval, romance, comfort, or reputation quietly becomes the thing pulling the strings.

Jesus did not tell them to feel guilty and stay there. He told them to remember, repent, and do the first works.

Remember when Jesus was everything. Remember when His word pierced you. Remember when you would obey quickly. Remember when prayer was not just a crisis response. Remember when worship was not performance. Remember when you cared more about pleasing Him than fitting in.

Then repent. Not just feel bad. Turn.

Then do the first works. Return to the practices of love. Seek Him. Obey Him. Listen. Serve. Forgive. Give. Tell the truth. Walk away from compromise.

Every Action Serves Someone

This is the part I cannot escape: every action serves a purpose or a person.

When I compromise for money, I am serving mammon. When I compromise for romance, I am serving desire. When I compromise for approval, I am serving fear of man. When I obey Jesus even when it costs me, I am serving the Lord.

Paul wrote:

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey...” — Romans 6:16, KJV

That verse strips away our excuses. The one you obey is the one you are serving.

We may say Jesus is Lord, but if money gets the final vote, money is functioning as lord. We may say Jesus is Lord, but if a relationship gets the final vote, that relationship is functioning as lord. We may say Jesus is Lord, but if our own comfort gets the final vote, self is on the throne.

This is not about perfection. It is about honesty. It is about letting the Holy Ghost reveal the hidden masters we have been obeying.

Returning to Jesus as First Love

So how do we return?

Start by asking God to expose what influences you most. Look at your calendar. Look at your spending. Look at your emotional reactions. Look at what you are afraid to lose. Look at what you defend when God starts touching it.

Jesus said:

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” — Matthew 6:21, KJV

Treasure is not only money. Treasure is what we protect, pursue, and prioritize. Your heart follows your treasure. If you want your heart back with Jesus, start moving your treasure toward Him.

Give Him your first attention, not your leftovers. Give Him obedience before explanation. Give Him the relationship that has become too important. Give Him the financial fear that keeps pushing you toward compromise. Give Him the dream you are afraid He might change.

He is not trying to rob you. He is trying to free you.

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” — John 8:36, KJV

Money cannot free you. It can buy options, but it cannot cleanse your conscience. Human love cannot free you. It can comfort you, but it cannot become your savior. Only Jesus can sit on the throne without destroying you.

Your Next Steps

1. Ask what has the final vote in your decisions. Is it money, love, fear, comfort, or Jesus?
2. Identify one compromise you have been excusing. Repent and take one concrete step of obedience today.
3. Return to your first works. Pray, obey, give, serve, forgive, and seek Jesus like He is your first love again.

Money will call. Love will call. Approval will call. Fear will call. But Jesus is still saying, “Follow me.”

The question is not what you believe on Sunday. The question is what you obey on Monday.

So today, look at your actions. They are preaching. Make sure they are preaching that Jesus is Lord.