Who's the Boss? Reclaiming Dominion Over Money, Materialism, and the Masters We Choose

There is a question that most of us never stop long enough to answer honestly. It is not complicated. It does not require a theology degree or years of biblical study. But it may be one of the most searching questions a person can sit with: Who is actually in charge of your life?

Not who you say is in charge. Not the answer you would give in a Sunday school class or around a dinner table with family. But who is genuinely, functionally, practically running the show when the bills come in, when the paycheck lands, when the opportunity presents itself to hold on to just a little more than you were planning to give?

That question is at the heart of what it means to pursue something the Bible calls dominion.

Back to the Beginning

The concept of dominion is not a modern invention. It stretches all the way back to the opening pages of Genesis, where God spoke creation into existence and then did something remarkable. He invited humanity into partnership with Him. In Genesis 1:26, God declared His intention to give human beings dominion over the earth, establishing a relationship of stewardship and shared authority between Creator and creation.

But something went wrong. Adam, placed in the garden by grace and given authority by God, reached for something through human effort that God had already promised to provide through divine grace. He was impatient with the process. He wanted the shortcut. And in doing so, he forfeited the very gift he had been given.

The lesson embedded in that ancient story is painfully relevant. More often than not, the greatest damage in our lives is not done by our enemies. It is done by our own impatience, our own insistence on doing things our way, on our timeline, by our methods.

But the story does not end in the garden. Hebrews 2:9 reminds us that Jesus, through His suffering and death, reclaimed what was lost. What Adam forfeited through sin, Jesus came to restore. The path back to genuine dominion, to ruling and reigning in the way God originally intended, was paved through the cross.

The Uncomfortable Competitor

Here is where the message gets personal, and where many people quietly begin to disengage.

Jesus, in Luke 16:13, made a statement that is simple in its language and staggering in its implication. He said that no servant can serve two masters. He did not say the competing master was Satan, or temptation in some abstract form. He named it specifically: you cannot serve God and money.

Why money? Because money is uniquely positioned to do what few other things can. It promises security. It promises freedom. It promises happiness and control. It does not announce itself as a rival to God. It simply, quietly, gradually takes up more and more space in our thinking, our planning, our decision-making, and our sense of safety, until one day we realize that our trust has shifted from the Provider to the provision itself.

Money is not evil in itself. The Bible does not say that. But it has an extraordinary capacity to become an idol, to set itself up as the thing we serve rather than the tool we steward. Colossians 3:5 is striking in this regard, listing covetousness alongside sexual immorality and impurity, and then adding something that stops readers in their tracks: covetousness, it says, is idolatry. It is the one item on that list given that specific label.

That is not a small claim. That is the Bible saying that an unhealthy grip on money and possessions is functionally the same as bowing down to a false god.

Abraham's Defining Moment

Few stories in scripture illustrate this tension more vividly than the encounter recorded in Genesis 14. Abraham, returning from battle after rescuing his nephew Lot, found himself standing between two very different offers representing two very different kingdoms.

On one side stood Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who brought bread and wine in a covenant meal and blessed Abraham in the name of the God who possesses heaven and earth. On the other side stood the king of Sodom, representing an entirely different set of values, who made Abraham a straightforward offer: keep the goods, just give me the people.

That offer deserves a long, slow look. Keep the stuff. Give me the people.

It is the same offer the world makes today, just dressed in different language. Take the promotion, give me your priorities. Take the lifestyle, give me your family. Take the financial security, give me your time, your presence, your attention, your soul. Keep the goods. Just give me the people.

Abraham's response was immediate and unambiguous. He lifted his hand to the Lord, the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and declared that he would not take so much as a sandal strap from the king of Sodom. He refused to allow anyone or anything to take credit for what God had done in his life. He had already decided who his source was.

Breaking the Grip

So how does a person break the power that money and possessions can accumulate over a life? The answer is both simple and deeply counter-cultural: you give it away.

Tithing, the practice of returning a tenth of what one receives to God, is not primarily a financial transaction. It is a declaration of lordship. It is the act of saying, with your hands and your wallet, not just your words, that God is the source of everything you have. Psalm 24:1 states that the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. When we tithe, we are agreeing with that truth in the most concrete way possible.

The tenth is not a tax. It is not a church fundraising strategy. It is an act of worship that breaks the grip of covetousness and reorients the heart toward the One who gives every good gift.

The Question That Remains

Biblical dominion, the kind God intended from the beginning and Jesus restored through the cross, is not about accumulating power or wealth. It is about surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of life, including the areas we most want to keep for ourselves.

The question is not complicated. But it is searching.

Who is the boss?