Christ or cash? This question was posed by a well-known public figure in a viral video, but the real shock wasn’t the question—it was her response. When asked to choose between ten minutes with Jesus and a trillion dollars, she confidently chose the money, explaining that everything she needs to know about God can already be found in His word. While that statement contains truth, if she had truly gone to His word for that answer, she would have found that choosing Him is always the greater treasure.

God is inexhaustible. No matter how much we know, the Holy Spirit continually reveals more of His depth through Scripture. The prophet Isaiah puts God’s greatness into perspective by asking: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” ( Isaiah 40:12). Later he says, “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket… and all the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers” (Isaiah 40:15, 22). These words remind us that the God we serve is limitless, unmatched, and worthy of every second we could ever spend with Him. John echoes this awe when he says of Jesus, “If every one of the things He did were written down, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). Paul adds another layer in 1 Corinthians 13:9: “For we know in part and we prophesy in part,” pointing out that everything we know, including what we understand about God now is only a fragment of who He is. Even eternity will not exhaust His glory. Yet Scripture still declares, “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:10). How could ten minutes with Him possibly be worth less than a trillion dollars?

So why would any of us choose otherwise? Misplaced value. When we walk in the flesh, our eyes become set on that which culture celebrates: wealth, self-promotion, and comfort—everything the gospel calls us to lay aside. Jesus Himself says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Watching the icon choose money over Christ left me stunned, but only momentarily. The Holy Spirit quickly brought the question back to my own heart: How often do you choose the lesser thing?

For me, it’s not money—it’s time. The time I could spend reading Scripture, praying, or serving the body of Christ often gets lost in distractions and mindless scrolling. Many believers share this struggle in different forms. The problem is not money itself; Scripture does not condemn wealth. The danger comes when temporary pleasures replace eternal obedience. Jesus warns us clearly: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21)

King Solomon, the wisest earthly king in the Old Testament, reached the same conclusion. After pursuing pleasure, wealth, wisdom, and achievement, he declared repeatedly in Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Without God, everything “under the sun” is empty. In previous chapters, this same man states, Nothing is new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Whether Christ is openly set aside for worldly gain or quietly replaced in the hidden places of our hearts, the root is the same misalignment of value. And when we remember the truth—that we deserved death but God gave us Himself—the comparison becomes unmistakable: Even a single second in the presence of God surpasses anything this world could ever offer—even a trillion dollars.