1 Timothy 6:10 - Money or Evil Desires

1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

The hard topic of money once again rears its head. Money is tricky, very tricky. We can't live without it since we have to pay for everything, but at the same time we know that money is the root of all evil. Wait, is that actually correct? No! It isn't. Money by itself is not the root of all evil, but rather “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”  Money is not the problem, it is the love of it that brings trouble. Having money is not an issue. There is no problem with earning money, having money, spending money, or saving money. Its when there is a desire for more of it, more and more and more of it that starts to cause problems.

Ecclesiastes 10:9 tells us that “money is the answer for everything.”  Jesus spent more time of His ministry talking about money than He did about sex, relationships, or even salvation. Obviously it is something of an important topic. We know that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why is that? What is it that makes it so hard for a rich man? We know that He taught that the widow who gave her two pennies gave more than everyone who gave large sums of cash and goods. We know that He rebuked Judas about the perfumed oil that cost Mary a years wages, even though Judas claimed it was for the poor! When it came to taxes, Jesus taught to give to Caesar what was Caesars and to God what was God's and not to complain. Jesus spent time and effort trying to teach about money and to not be controlled by it.

That is what the issue really is – it is a control issue. When we love something or someone, they have a source of control over us, and that love can drive us to do things we wouldn't otherwise do. We love God so we obey God's commands even when they are not convenient for us. When we love money then we take shortcuts and try to get as much of it as possible. Ecclesiastes 5:10 teaches that “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”  We really need to re-approach how we think about money, finances, and everything involved with this whole topic. In Hebrews, we are told to “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'” Since God has promised to take care of us He is our wealth and not those little pieces of paper that we stuff into our wallets.

I know we work hard for that money. We have bills to pay and food to buy. We have a tithe to offer, friends to help, and maybe even something special in a store window could be calling for us, but money is to be used, not abused or desired excessively after. God's got blessings in store for us, and those blessings are more than we could ever hope or imagine for. “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and He adds no trouble to it.” (Proverbs 10:22)

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
                      Fanny Crosby, 1905.