Is Jesus Better Than Money? – Hebrews 13:4-6
Jun 10, 2026 23788
Money. We don’t talk about it much, do we? But it shapes so much of our lives. Hebrews 13 doesn’t tiptoe around it. It names it, warns us, and points us to something and someone better than money.
Hebrews 13:4-6
[4] Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. [5] Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [6] So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (ESV)
Marriage and Money
We’re at the end of Hebrews. One message on repeat the whole way through: Jesus is better. Now the author wants to land the plane. So what? In verses 1 to 3, his answer was love. In verses 4-6, he zooms in on two areas where the cultural pressure is most intense: marriage and money.
Honour Marriage
In verse 4, we read, “Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled”. Inside the church, we honour God’s pattern. One man, one woman, for life. Faithfulness if you’re married. Holiness if you’re single. We flee from sexual immorality because we belong to Jesus.
And Ephesians 5 reminds us why this matters so deeply. Marriage points to Christ, the groom who laid down his life for his bride, to make her holy.
The Love of Money
Then in verse 5 we read, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have.”
Rockefeller, the richest man in the world at the time, was once asked how much money was enough. His famous answer? “Just a little bit more.”
That’s the trap. The love of money never lets you arrive. Money makes a lousy lord. Therefore, we need to hold it loosely, and we strive to give it away generously and liberally. It’s one of the most powerful ways we tell our own hearts that Jesus is better than money.
Why Jesus is Better Than Money
Verse 5 doesn’t stop with a warning. It gives us a reason. “Be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”
That’s the secret to contentment. It’s not having more money. It’s having a better Lord. You can lose money. You cannot lose him.
And so verse 6 reminds us of the one who makes a wonderful Lord: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
The Good News is…
The good news is that Jesus has given you something money cannot buy. Himself. He left the riches of heaven and became poor so that you might become rich. He hung empty-handed on the cross so that you would never be left or forsaken.
You don’t need more money to be content. You need to remember who is with you.
Reflection
Heavenly Father, free our hearts from the love of money. Help us hold what we have loosely, give what we have generously, and rest in the truth that you will never leave us nor forsake us. Thank you that Jesus is better than anything money could ever buy. In his name we pray, Amen.
—
Watch this week’s Video Devotion: