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.
1 Timothy 6:10
We have all heard this scripture quoted — and misquoted — a thousand times. You don’t even have to be a Christian to have heard this Bible verse.
The standard message in relation to this verse focuses on the dangers of pursuing wealth and riches. Christians should be focused on eternal things and should not be concerned with money. Life and, more importantly, the kingdom of God is not about money. We should build up treasure in heaven rather than seek to amass treasures on earth.
I agree with all of the above statements. I have heard them a thousand times and will gladly hear them a thousand more, as they keep me focused on God and his kingdom.
My problem with the above message is that I don’t believe it goes far enough!
Christianity is so focused on the love of money that chases after riches that it never pauses to address the love of money that keeps millions of believers trapped in a life of poverty and constant financial struggle.
Why is this dangerous? Because, debt and financial struggle take our faith hostage.
It is Satan’s best play against the first-world, hard-working believer. As long as believers remain trapped in a place of financial struggle, they are destined to live inconsequential lives, never fulfilling God’s purposes. Instead, they are overcome by the cares of this world (Mark 4:19). Forced to focus all their time and energy on simply making ends meet. Living paycheck to paycheck.
Christianity is so focused on the love of money that chases after riches that it never pauses to address the love of money that keeps millions of believers trapped in a life of poverty and constant financial struggle.
Rich Abba, Holy Abba
How can we, as believers, truly seek first the kingdom of God in our lives if all our time and energy is focused on making ends meet?
There are 84 daylight hours in a week. How many of those are spent seeking the kingdom of God? How many are spent seeking a paycheck? As the saying goes, you do the math!
Christians Against Poverty
So how do we escape this love of money trap? We need to become Christians against poverty, so to speak. I am not saying that every Christian should be rich. But I believe every Christian should be free!
Free to seek first the kingdom of God. Free to pursue God’s will and purposes for their lives. Free to go wherever God sends them to share the good news of the gospel. Free to act whenever God directs them to reach out and share his love and compassion with others. Unencumbered by debt and financial bondage designed to restrict that freedom.
To do this simply requires the ability to make wise financial decisions instead of poor ones. Fortunately, God’s word is packed with wisdom on the subject — if only we bother to look.
For any believers hoping to become Christians against poverty, this Book — The Wise Man & the Fool, is a great place to start. It is a really easy read; a light-hearted parable that takes a journey through scripture to explore what the Bible really teaches about money.
Dear God. We cannot seek the kingdom right now. All believers are extremely busy. However, your Calling is important to us and will be answered as soon as we have paid our bills for what we eat, drink, and wear. Please hold. Your Calling is fifth in the queue, behind Paycheck, Career, Job Security, and Retirement.
This week, I was struck, yet again, by both the depth of fear — and the breadth of ignorance — regarding the subject of money in a Biblical context.
‘The root of all evil — that’s what you are talking about!’ came the stock reprimand when I dared to mention the words Bible and money in the same sentence.
This type of reaction saddens me for one simple reason; how are we, as Christians, ever going to learn how to put God first in our lives if we never seek to understand what the Bible says about how we should manage our money?
The Root of All Evil
God’s word abounds with scriptures that address this eternal struggle for our hearts:
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:31-33
… is about putting God first, money second.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… No one can serve two masters…. You cannot serve both God and money… Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Matthew 6:19-25
… (same passage) is about serving God, not money.
Still others, like seed thrown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Mark 4:18-19
… deals with money worries versus kingdom concerns.
Command those who are rich in this present world… [not] to put their hope in wealth… but to put their hope in God… Command them… to be rich in good deeds… generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19
… deals with how we should use earthly wealth to produce eternal riches (i.e. souls in heaven).
I could go on…
Lest we assume that all these verses refer purely to choosing the kingdom over chasing after riches and amassing great wealth (a standard assumption in Christian circles), grab your Bible and read Matthew 6:19-33 again. Then refer to this post that studies that passage. You may notice that wealth and riches are not mentioned once in the entire passage.
Jesus was not talking to the rich when he said, ‘… do not worry about… what you will eat or drink; or… what you will wear.’ Rather, he was talking to every-day citizens. In fact, his focus is more on those who are in pursuit of their paycheck than in pursuit of great wealth.
The fact is, God’s word contains a myriad of passages that deal with every aspect of money in our lives. It goes way beyond ‘the root of all evil’ or even camels passing through the eye of a needle. The Bible includes verses and teachings about every aspect of money as a subject, including how we should:
View it
Earn it
Spend it
Use it
Save it
Invest it
Share it
Donate it
Increase it
Bequeath it and
Inherit it
In every one of these areas, there is a Godly way and a Sinful way to manage our money.
Unfortunately, for many sincere believers, the mere mention of money triggers their deepest fears and their Built-in Christian-Love-of-Money Alarms start to sound. This brings the shutters down and elicits knee-jerk responses, like
Love of money is the root of all evil
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
Life isn’t all about money
You cannot serve God and money
You should seek first the kingdom of God
… without ever seeking to understand the true meaning in these verses.
When we do this, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to grow in God. We rob ourselves of the opportunity to let God’s word speak to us and challenge us, bringing us into a closer walk with him. Instead, we reduce all scripture on the subject of money to a ‘Poor good, Rich bad’ mentality. This is not only naive; it isn’t even true.
We need to open our hearts to God’s word and allow him to show us those areas where we need to grow. In this context, nothing cuts closer to the bone than the area of finances. But, if we would open our hearts just for a moment, we might just realize how far short we have fallen and how desperate our spiritual condition has become. The answers are all contained in God’s word.
15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:15-21
The Parable of the Rich Fool
The parable of the Rich Fool is a key scripture when exploring what the Bible says about money. As with so many scriptures on the subject, it first focuses our attention on what is truly important. It reminds us that we are eternal beings and that the things in this life, like money and possessions, are transient.
So where did the rich fool go wrong in this story? I believe he did so in two respects.
First, the passage tells us that this man acquired these possessions for himself. We see this in verse 20 when God says, ‘This very night your life will be demanded of you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?‘ There was no greater purpose in his intent, no eternal focus. He could have used his abundance to give to the poor, or he could have used it to advance God’s kingdom. In other words, he could have used his earthly wealth to save souls and, so, store up treasure in heaven. The rich fool did none of these thing. Rather, he focused only on himself and his own desires.
This man’s attitude towards his possessions illustrates the fundamental difference between the love of money and stewardship very clearly. The love of money manages resources for Self while Stewardship manages those resources for God and his kingdom.
The second issue goes to the planned use of those resources. It is clear from the man’s thoughts that his intention was to store up his resources in order to take life easy (verse 19). His plan was to eat, drink and be merry. In other words, his goal was a life of leisure. Once again, his focus was on the transient when it should have been on the eternal. As God says to the man, ‘This very night your life will be demanded from you.‘
Stewardship is not about building a life of leisure but, rather, building a life of meaning.
Rich Abba, Holy Abba
In a nutshell, this man’s critical error was in how he chose to use the resources with which God had blessed him. He chose to use his abundance to live a life of leisure when he could have used them to live a life of meaning.
Modern Application
Here’s a scary thought; the parable of the Rich Fool sounds an awful lot like the traditional retirement plan that I, along with many other hard-working, first-world citizens, have been conditioned to prepare for and aspire to in the modern economy.
I guess each one of us needs to ask ourselves the question. Am I building toward a life of leisure or a life of meaning?
Many believers in the modern world experience financial suffering on a daily basis. Setting aside rampant poverty and the millions of people living on, or below, the bread-line, many middle-class Christians in the first world live hand-to-mouth or paycheck to paycheck each month. In fact, statistics show that even the majority of pastors have zero savings, believe they are grossly underpaid and have experienced financial struggle in their families.
So what’s the secret? How can believers break free from financial suffering in their lives once and for all?
Like so many things in life, the truth is beautiful in its simplicity but extremely difficult to live out in practise.
A Christian Overcoming Financial Stress
The truth is this; the only way to break free from the bonds of financial struggle is to:
Consume less than we earn
Eradicate debt
Invest savings for future harvest and
Do this consistently over time
There are many different ways to say this but they all boil down to the steps above. Some call this building wealth. Others call it common sense. Some see this as a means to acquire riches but most would be more than satisfied if they could just break free from the constant cycle of debt and the financial worry they experience on a daily basis.
I will say it again; in truth, the only way to break free from the bonds of financial struggle is to:
Consume less than we earn
Eradicate debt
Invest savings for future harvest and
Do this consistently over time
Here are some corollary truths:
Building wealth this way takes time
Building wealth this way is boring
Actually, boring is a good thing in this context. When things get exciting, you will generally find that the Love of Money has entered the equation… and that is when things start to go awry. First, and foremost, our spiritual compass goes off-course and we lose our way spiritually. As a result, our relationship with God begins to suffer.
Second, we usually end up losing money. Bear in mind, the Love of Money is sin — and Satan always tempts us with a poisoned chalice. That is his modus operandi. First, he lures us away from the truth with the promise of a short-term gain; in this case, riches. Then, once we have fallen prey to the temptation and our relationship with God is damaged, he takes away the very thing he tempted us with in the first place. The result is a broken believer who has turned their face from God and also lost the very thing that diverted their attention in the first place. Still, there Satan lurks with the next temptation…
As believers, we need to break this cycle. In the context of financial struggle, the way to do this is to repent from the love of money that landed us in our current financial predicament. Then we need to turn our face back to God and his word. After that, we can begin to seek a way out of our financial bondage by seeking God and his word.
Consume Less Than You Earn
The first step out of financial suffering is to ensure that we spend less than we earn. We do this by learning to be content.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 Timothy 6:6-8
When we learn to be content with what we have, we can finally learn to spend less than we earn, and so begin our journey on the road to recovery. The promise at that destination is…
Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.
Proverbs 21:20
Eradicate Debt
Debt is a snare that entangles and chokes its victims. As the proverb says;
Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.
Proverbs 22:26-27
Of course, this is a warning against succumbing to debt in the first place. This does not necessarily help believers who already find themselves drowning in consumer debt.
However, if you have achieved the first step, above, and are now consuming less than you earn, you are in a position to eradicate debt once and for all. Simply use those extra funds to reduce your debt until you have none left. There are great resources available to assist with this, like Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover.
Invest Savings for Future Harvest
The book of Proverbs is full of great advice for managing money in our day-to-day lives. And so is Ecclesiastes. Surprisingly, this book in the Bible includes several verses related to investment and managing money. For instance;
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
Ecclesiastes 11:2
There is much to glean from this verse but, in the context of this article, our main take-away should be this; invest!
It is not a sin to plant your savings as seed in order to reap a future harvest. Nor is it the love of money to plan for the future. In fact, over the long term, it is the one sure way to protect ourselves from financial struggle. Remember, the goal here is not to chase after riches but, rather, to break free from the bonds of financial suffering.
Do This Consistently Over Time
This is the toughest pill to swallow. Unfortunately, just as there are no get-rich-quick solutions, so there are no quick fixes to escape financial struggle. It takes discipline and time. But God’s word is there to guide us through the process.
Dishonest money dwindles away but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow
Proverbs 13:11
None of the first three steps will result in financial freedom on their own. Rather, the diligent and consistent application of those principles and Bible verses is what will bring the breakthrough.
The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.
Proverbs 12:27
As the proverb says so clearly, diligence brings the breakthrough. This is why I said earlier that building wealth this way takes time and is boring. There is nothing exciting about doing the same thing over and over. There is nothing exhilarating about making small sacrifices day after day for what appear to be insignificant short-term gains.
It is boring. On the plus side, it is also the surefire way to eschew the love of money. You simply cannot walk this path to financial freedom if you love money. It’s just too slow — and the love of money always seeks instant gratification.
But for those who have the courage to believe God’s word and the strength of character to dig deep when it matters. For those who are prepared to press on and walk this journey…
There lies the promise in God’s word; the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt!
