Jesus was doing more than just personifying mammon—perhaps as some scholars suggest, Jesus was referring to an entity. Robert Morris puts it this way “Did you know that all money has a spirit on it? It either has the Spirit of God or the spirit of mammon. Money that is submitted to God and His purposes has the Spirit of God on it. On the other hand, money that is not submitted to God has the spirit of mammon by default. That’s why people think money can bring them happiness or fulfillment. Mammon is basically the spirit of the world—and that spirit is a liar.” 2 This spirit of mammon is pervasive and yet subtle, and it can be difficult to detect unless we remain vigilant against it. This spirit tries to persuade us to trust money more than we trust God. We have a choice: we can choose to either let the spirit of mammon influence what we do with money or allow the Spirit of God to teach us how to manage it. If we fail to make a choice, by default, the spirit of mammon will govern us in this area. We must be diligent and see which spirit influences us when it comes to the financial realm. 2 Gateway Devotions, The Blessed Life, #11— Breaking the Spirit of Mammon by Robert Morris 1 9 | u n m a s k i n g m a m m o n Unmasking_Mammon_book_4.5.indd 19 2018-07-11 7:41 AM