For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

In the context of today’s verse, Paul creates a dichotomy between wealth and godliness in 1 Timothy 6:6-19. Verse 10 though, places a specific warning on longing for wealth in contrast to a life of contentment or comfort (re: “many griefs”). Paul, however, carefully chooses his words so that we understand that wealth itself is not evil – money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is the problem here. The love of money creates a never-ending and fruitless pursuit.  

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Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” Jesus says in Matthew 6:19, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” Paul is reiterating Jesus’ warning against storing up perishable treasure. We should instead look to an eternal treasure resulting from our faith walk toward godliness. Longing for physical wealth is temporal and pursuing godliness is eternal - leading to a contentment that money cannot bring.  

I think that anyone would be hard pressed to say that money has not caused some amount of stress or even grief in their lives. This problem of money is a human problem and plagues those who have it and manage it well, and those with bank accounts Dave Ramsey would describe as having “too much month at the end of the money.” But is it bad to want or strive for wealth, comfortability or even to make ends meet? I do not believe so. In this instance though, Paul is making an argument that longing for money can be a sure way to ruin your life.  

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I personally would prefer not to pierce myself with many griefs. Why then do we (me included) focus so intently on acquiring money? I am not talking about the necessity to just pay our bills here; I am talking about the real temptation too. Resisting this temptation is incredibly hard within a culture that idolizes wealth, social media that constantly gives us an “easy 3-step model” (that you can buy) for success, or a culture that tells us we just need to work harder. At times, I find myself convicted of living at an imbalance between eternal investment and financial investment – investing in the Kingdom or investing in my retirement. It causes me grief.  

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How can we combat the hold that money has on us? I have tried my best to look at money with open hands. If all money is God’s and I am just a conduit for it, I trust that he will take care of me in that – and he has! Money can flow through open hands, but grasping hands can only hold what they can take. With open hands we can be generous from the blessings that we have received. Open hands are outward looking and can see opportunities that God presents us, and closed hands keep us focused on ourselves and protecting just what we have. I think that we all can be easily tricked by the gratification that money can bring in an instant. My experience is that the instant has never provided a lasting amount of joy or contentment. Today I challenge you to look outward and grow the blessings you have received through generosity.  

God, thank you for your provision. Thank you for loving me so much that you gave all of yourself so I may have a relationship with you. Please give me strength to resist the things that only provide fading contentment. Give me wisdom to manage all that you have given me. Teach me to be generous as you are generous. In Jesus’ name, Amen.