The Love of Money
Scripture Reference: 1 Timothy 6:9-11 (KJV)
I Timothy 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
INTRODUCTION
Today I want to talk about four words in particular. And how they play a very important part in our everyday lives.
Love, Money, Root and Evil:
Before I start today’s bible study I would like to share a story with you that was sent to me over the internet. It was sent to me by Sharon Marlow. Email address: slmarlow@earthlink.net
The Penny
You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I’ve ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.
Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband’s employer’s home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.
The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband’s employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest res! taurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.
As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband. He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.
Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.
He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?
Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She causally mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and ask! ed if the penny he had found had been of some value.
A smile c rept across the man’s face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?
"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says." She read the words "United States of America"
"No, not that; read further."
"One cent?" "No, keep reading."
"In God we Trust?" "Yes!" "And?"
"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God’s way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!
When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. Yes, God, I get the message.
It seems! that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful!
And, God is patient...
Have a blessed day!!
MAIN BODY
1.) LOVE
When we look at the word love it carries different meanings to different people. For instance, some view love as something that should be given freely while others view it as something that should be shared in only the most intimate and discriminate way.
When God introduced the word love in the bible he was talking to Abram about offering his son who Abram loved dearly:
God tests us by seeing if we are willing to offer the thing that we love the most for his glory (Genesis 22:1,2 1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.)
God wanted to be sure that Abram was willing to give anything to Him.
Are we able to be used like this by God right now?
Can He have need of the one thing that we truly love and expect us to give it to Him no matter how much we love it?
Are we placing the love of the thing, person or place in our lives over the love of God?
We must always remember that we serve a jealous God one who makes no secret that He wants to be first in our lives all by himself. It’s the first of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.)
2.) MONEY
The first thing that I want to do is disprove some of the nasty rumors that have been attached to money. The first being that God does not want people of God to have money. This is not true. (Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.)
Many think that because God is responsible to take care of us then we are okay in our slothful and poverty stricken state. This is not true. God wants us to pursue money. Money makes an excellent servant however it makes a terrible master. God does not excuse us of not pursuing money in fact in the book of Ecclesiastes it says that money answers all things (Ecclesiastes 10:18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through. 19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.)
The next thing that I want to point out is that you can easily tell when God has blessed you with a thing or you are just living in greed because if God blesses you there will be no sorrow added. When God blesses you with money he does not add sorrow (Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.)
So if you find yourself in a state of unhappiness about the things that you have attained in life then they were not gifts from God.
This does not however give us the right to be slothful and call ourselves waiting on God and always settling for less than what we should have in life.
I sometimes ask people if they have a budget and plan that they follow when the spend their money and I can tell immediately their financial condition based on how they answer this question. The people that have a little extra money are almost always the people with a plan. The people without a plan often claim that they never have enough money left over at the end of the month to make any plans. “Hmmm”, I say to myself, “I wonder what in the world could cause them to spend all of their money with such haste and carelessness“. The answer to their self-inflicted problems lie in the fact that they have decided not to have a plan or use wisdom with their money. Wisdom gives life to those that have it (Ecclesiastes 7:12 For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.).
3.) ROOT
The importance of roots - tree roots are not visible, usually misunderstood, and certainly not appreciated very much. The root system of woody plants are essential for their survival and growth. Often, the general decline of woody plants (trees) is directly related to the health and vigor of its root system.
Healthy trees will have a healthy, expanding root system. Healthy roots anchor the tree, provide uptake of nutrients and water for growth and cooling, provide storage for food reserves, and produce organic materials required for tree growth. These root functions are vital to a vigorous and functional tree.
I wanted to point out the strength, potential, and power of the root. Many times roots are underground so really we don’t think about them when we see beautiful trees but believe me saints the tree has not forgotten about the roots.
In fact, the tree is fully aware that without the root it would immediately die.
When God has made up his mind that he truly wants to rid a place of a people then he attacks the root of the people. (II Chronicles 7:20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.)
4.) EVIL
The last word that I want to talk about is the word evil. This word has tangled so many men and women of God for so long that we sometimes give more mention and credit to it for the bad things that happen in our lives than we do to God for the blessings in our lives.
It is truly amazing how a simple act of evil can drown out years of blessings by God. A little trouble and we began to say within our souls, “Woe is me”. Why is this? God has truly been good to us. He has taken His time and truly been a blessing in our lives.
The first mention of the word evil in the bible is when God was using it to describe one of the characteristics “if you will” of a tree that He had placed in the midst of the garden (Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.)
God truly warned his children to stay away from this tree. This tree had evil in it’s root system.
God knew that the evil in the root system in that tree would transfer into his children and become a permanent characteristic in their personality. Just one taste of the fruit from this tree would place a permanent and irremovable scar in their lives.
This is exactly what we are dealing with today. We are only sampling the taste of sin and it causing us to be scarred with evil for the rest of our lives.
Because we are scarred with evil and we are naturally passionate and loving people (made in the image of God) our dealings with money sometimes causes us to make irrational and illegal decisions that we would otherwise be able to easily avoid.
Truly there is nothing evil or wrong with having money it is however the evil scar that causes us to pervert our natural affectionate love into something monstrous and evil all for money.
If we could handle money as if it were a tool in the same frame of mind that we use a hammer then it would free us from many of the bonds that we are subject to right now.
I have never heard of a person who loved a hammer so much that it drove them to do some of the devil’s handy work such as steal, kill and destroy.
There are people who make fortunes from hammers and they truly have a preference of which hammer they would like to use but it is rare that they have a love for this hammer even though it is very valuable and special to them.
We have to learn to use money in a similar way. It is an excellent tool but a terrible carpenter.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is the love of money that is evil not money itself. Many saints are having their drive and desires stomped out because they have come to a conclusion that their passion to attain things is from the devil. This is a trick of the devil. I have come by today to tell you saints of God that you should continue to strive to satisfy the desires of your heart (4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.)
However always remember that when we began to love and worship money that is when it takes control and rears it’s head as the evil monster that it can become with the wrong intentions.
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord thank you. I love you and need you desperately to help me in my financial situation. I have come to the conclusion that you are far wiser than me so I turn my finances over to you that you may teach what to do and what not to do concerning money. Lord I pray that you will continue to bless me and use me for a vessel of honor for your name sake. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane Sr.
