You hear people all the time say, “I wish I had a lot of money.” But is money really the big problem solver? Can we buy our way through life? Sure, money helps pay the bills and buys us all we want, but it can also be a false hope, because you create all these bills and then the money runs out. You see, money causes us to do things we ought not do, because we begin to lust after things, and when we don’t have the money to buy what we want, we begin to charge it, which then puts us in debt. That begins the downward trend, until we have no way of paying it off, which leads us to begin stealing what we want, and from there it just keeps growing and growing out of control. We must understand that there is a difference between our needs and our wants. Money can also be a false security, and it can create an attitude of power and superiority over another. Those with money know that they can buy people, because of people’s lust for more and more. We then become slaves to the rich, but they are the ones who are actually the slaves, slaves to their own lust and their own hunger for power. The Bible tells us that money is the root of all evil. The Apostle Paul, speaking to Timothy who was most likely in his upper teens to twenties, says this in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 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.”
The O’Jays sang this song in the 70’s called the “The Love of Money”
“For the love of money people will steal from their mother
For the love of money people will rob their own brother
For the love of money people can’t even walk the street because they never know who in the world they’re gonna beat. For that lean, mean, mean green
Almighty dollar, money.
For the love of money people will lie, Lord, they will cheat for the love of money.
People don’t care who they hurt or beat.
For the love of money a woman will sell her precious body.
For a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weight.
Call it lean, mean, mean green. I know money is the root of all evil,
do funny things to some people, give me a nickel, brother can you spare a dime.
Money can drive some people out of their minds.”
They sure did know, and they sure did sing this popular song. The Bible speaks a lot about money because the power of money is a powerful influencer. Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 says, “The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, nor the one who loves wealth with big profits. The more loot you get, the more looters show up. And what fun is that—to be robbed in broad daylight?”
Today you may not think about God, your heavenly Father, but one day you might find yourself in need of His help and you will not be able to find that help, because you have made money your god. Mark 8:36 tells us this, “What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?” 1 John 2:15-17 says, “Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from Him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”
Take the words of this song seriously, and take the Word of God even more. Money is not a means to an end, it is only a means to live within your means.