Money and the love of it...

(1Timothy 6:6-10) “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

Addiction is a very power surge in a person’s life that drives them to make unwise decisions. But there are many subtle cravings that drive our characters and one of these addictions is the will to become rich. I have been privy to this craving along life’s journey but until we understand the teaching from God’s Word on the subject we will continue with this error in our lives. The Lord Jesus taught on the subject and so does the Apostle Paul. We must be motivated by finding God’s will for our lives and thankfully He is patient with His subjects and teaches us this valuable lesson. The text is very explicit, so let us break it down.

From the outset the overarching drive for all must be to find contentment with what we have in Christ. As soon as we move into the sphere of greed in any form we have taken the wrong turn and our lives will be filled with strife.

We are born with nothing and therefore we will also leave with nothing. Material wealth will only ever feed our realities on earth. Our flesh is driven by the passions of sin and therefore when we nurture it to the point of obsession we are caught up into a spiral of suffering. The text is very clear on this; “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” We pretend that if we become rich we will help those in need when in fact we become even more self-centred. If we can learn to be driven by the will to find contentment with godliness in our lives we shall find certainty in the fact that God will supply all our necessities and we will be able to understand the difference been our needs and wants. God first, and the will to appropriate His righteousness as our first point of call will become the overarching factor to our lives. When this has been realised and becomes part of our daily makeups only then will it be well with our souls.

Christianity is a call upon our lives that is the worst trade in this world; it is filled with sacrifice and self-denial but the best calling in the world for it has eternal benefits; whereas the will to be rich drives a person to set goals and hopes for this life with no thought for eternity. It is a narrow minded approach and it will certainly be short lived.

The Lord Jesus suffered tremendous pain on behalf of the sins of mankind; now imagine if he took the easy out, where would that leave us? Doomed for destruction! But He was driven by a far deeper reality and that was to fulfil the will of His Father which resulted in eternal reward. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father awaiting the judgement of mankind, where every knee will bow to Him and confess Him as Lord. For those who have rejected his council will be driven to their knees with a rod of iron. How I long for the day when my Saviour will be exalted and recognized by all.

All a man needs for this world is enough to carry him through it unto the end, no more is actually needed. “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” Get the point as it is very explicit. I know our minds will now begin to gallop as it yearns to exploit any wiggle room, but there is none. The sooner we can be settled in this area of our lives the happier we will be.

Faith is the catalyst which must drive our hope which is an eternal hope. “You will know a tree by its fruit”. This is a reference to distinguish between true and false Christianity. We often only make reference to the obvious sinful behaviour witnessed in our lives, like drunkenness, fornication and the like but hankering after money is often given a pass. If that be true we have erred and repentance is required.

All of God’s council is for the believer’s benefit and we must welcome all that is taught. 

My prayer for all who claim God’s free gift of salvation is that we take what is taught seriously in our lives as it will be profitable when applied.

God my Father please help us see the wood from the trees in the more subtle areas of our lives so that your name would be glorified when we face the onslaught of the enemy, to the ever wise God, may His name be glorified now and forever more, Amen and Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone