Are you a person who loves money or do you love God with your money? It might be easy to write this off but please ask yourself these questions: How do I know if I’m a person who loves money? What is my mental picture of someone who loves money? What behaviors do I think would characterize a person’s life that loves money?
Look at 1 Timothy 6:3 – 10…
3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 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. 10 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.
Are you a person who loves money or do you love God with your money? Verse 10 is most likely the key text of this passage & it’s located in the middle of 1st Timothy, which is a letter that was written by the apostle Paul to Timothy who is not only his son in the faith but is also a young church planter whom Paul left in Ephesus to continue the work of planting the church there.
Throughout the letter Paul tells Timothy how to deal with many different obstacles that arise in ministry. Paul gives Timothy instructions on how to handle false teachers. He tells him to remember to preach the gospel faithfully and to be committed to praying for everyone. Paul also explains to Timothy what the qualifications for elders & deacons are; he explains that some people will walk away from the faith; he challenges Timothy to serve Jesus faithfully, he tells Timothy how to manage the people in the church and then he warns Timothy and the church of the dangers of being people who love money.
Ask yourself these questions: How do I know if I’m a person who loves money? What is my mental picture of someone who loves money? What behaviors do I think would characterize a person’s life that loves money? And at first it may seem easy to write this off and think: “I’m not a person who loves money”. But let me just ask a few questions: Are you negligent with your money? Do you constantly think about your next purchase? Do you find yourself impulsively spending? Do you consistently blow your budget? Do you give a certain percentage of your money to the ministry of the gospel regularly? Your answer to these questions will reveal if you love money or if you love God with your money.
God wants us to become people who rely on his love for us rather than relying on our love of money. Why? Because the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils and it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. The love of money can have eternal ramifications. God didn’t give his Son at the cross so that we could continue being trapped in our love of money and he didn’t give his son at the cross so that we could be in bondage to all kinds of evils.
God gave his Son Jesus at the cross so that we can be set free to love him. And one of the ways we love God is by being responsible with our money; by thinking about how he purchased us out of hell instead of thinking about our next purchase; by spending our money wisely instead of spending it impulsively; by managing our money faithfully instead of blowing our budget irresponsibly and by giving a regular portion of our money away generously because of the generosity of God in giving Jesus on our behalf.
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. Are you a person who loves money or do you love God with your money?