The Love of Money…

Without a doubt you’ve heard debate over the scripture, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…”, found in 1 Timothy 6:10. This verse may be one verse that gets twisted around and misunderstood of all verses found in the Bible. In light of this, I would like to put forward a simple illustration that gives clarity to the debate of “money” being good or evil. It’s a simple illustration that I’ve heard presented a few different ways, but the point it makes about the nature of people and their relationship with money is so easily understood that it’s worth sharing again.

Money is amoral, meaning it doesn’t have morals at all, it’s just money. You could liken money to a piece of wood. By it’s self it accomplishes nothing, but put enough of it in the hand of a carpenter it could frame a house. A pile of wood could heat a home, build a tree house for children to play in, or it could cut molded into a piece of artwork. A piece of wood could be sharpened into a spear that could inflict a wound in another person during battle, or the same piece of wood could be used by a hunter to provide food for his family. The wood doesn’t care what it is used for because it has no moral base towards good or evil, it’s just a piece of wood.

When placed in a persons hand, wood can do great or terrible things. Just because one person has a big pile of wood it doesn’t make them evil or ungodly, neither does that make a person with a small pile of wood good and holy. It’s just a piece of wood. A person can be a jerk with a bunch of wood or a little bundle just the same. A person can be a tremendous blessing to others with a bunch of wood or a little bundle, it makes no difference.

Money is identical. If a dollar bill sits on a table for a hundred years it’s still just a dollar. The quantity of dollar bills in a persons checking account or paycheck at the end of the week makes no difference to the persons character. What makes all the difference is how we use the money we do have, and that often determines how much more or less money we will have in the future. Just keep that in perspective the next time you hear someone debating the issue of money being good or evil.

Do I Really “Need” This? (Part 2/3)

Starting where we left off in my last post, we often find ourselves in the midst of financial turmoil and grief when we lose focus of our primary purpose for being alive, which is to emulate Christ each day (for the full recap first read Part 1/3). So when we wake up and find ourselves in a financial mess, what is God’s response when we call on Him? Does he care at all? Is He complacent on matters such as these? Is there any Biblical basis for even expecting His guidance for situations like this when it was our own fault we are in the mess to begin with? Using scripture as our guide I’d say yes….with some expectations. Consider the story of Elisha and the widow found in 2 Kings 4:1-7:

“A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors - empty vessels; do not gather  just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

Wow, this story has so many messages packed into it that I could dedicate a weeks worth of posts to it, but let’s just look at a few of the basic principles found within the text. First off, this woman was recently widowed by a man who, though “fearing” God, had amassed a large amount of debt and the creditors were knocking at the door to get paid! Has anyone been there before? Have you found yourself in financial debt to the point you couldn’t keep up despite all your efforts? It was obviously a scary situation for this widow. She was crying out for help and the man God sent to answer her gave her specific instructions and a plan of escape from the mess she was in, but it did require her and her sons to follow a specific action plan. They were diligent and quick to do what the man of God told them to do and the result was a financial miracle. The underlying principle of the whole story is, “as a follower of Christ, when you call on God for help, He is faithful to answer.” Does His method of help look the same or come in the same manner every time? No, it changes from person to person as God looks at our situation, sees our hearts’ motivation behind the prayer, and He answers in the way that will bring about the most eternal good.

I find it interesting that the scriptures clearly defined that the first thing the widow was to do with the money earned from selling the oil was to repay the creditors. They were collecting on debt, a very plain and ordinary part of life for many people, but God was intentional on providing enough financial resources to cover the debt AND have enough left over to live on the rest. That is typically called a surplus, as it is more than is needed to meet the need. That shows me that God isn’t only concerned about the needs I have today, but that He is also aware of and will provide for the needs of my future.

In the final post on this topic we’ll take a look at the questions surrounding the “surplus” and “prospering” side of the discussion. What does the Bible say about living a financially prosperous life?