The Love of Money

“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity”.  Ecclesiastes 5:10

The story goes about a rich man who was asked, “How much money is enough for you?”  He answered, “Just a little bit more”.  Whoever came up with that example must have read the above verse in Ecclesiastes because that is exactly what it says.  Apparently a very wealthy person is never satisfied no matter how much money he or she has which only goes to show you that money does not satisfy a person’s true need nor brings contentment.  Many people believe that more money can solve their problems, and it doesn’t really matter what the problems are.  I have heard stories about folks who won large sums of money in lotteries, but, according to them, those winnings ruined their lives.  I know what you are thinking:  “that wouldn’t happen to me!”  However, we may think we know how we will react in any given set of circumstances, but we never really know until we are faced with those circumstances.  “Never say never”, as the old but true saying goes.

Jesus said that one can’t serve God and money (Matthew 6:24).  If a person’s goal is to make lots of money for his or her own pleasure and enjoyment, then he or she will most likely not give God a second thought, until, of course, they lose it all and become desperate.  True joy and contentment come in serving the Lord, and there is no real honest and lasting joy that comes from making money as one’s life’s goal.  There is inner tranquility in following Christ but following after money can be a source of difficulties, worry, fear, and envy.  The motto of the rich is to “get all that you can, can all you can get, and sit on the can”.  In other words, work your fingers to the bone, hoard what you make, and worry about someone taking it from you.  Who needs to live like that?  Of course, we need money.  It has been said that “love makes the world go ’round, but money greases the wheel!”  There is nothing wrong with earning a good living to provide for one’s family.  We are supposed to work and bring home the bacon.  But when making money becomes the chief goal, so many other things get tossed by the wayside.  One of the most prevalent things that breaks up marriages is arguments over money.

As the old song says, “money can’t buy you happiness when you’re growing old” and neither can it buy you happiness at any other time in your life.  Folks get all excited when they buy a new car, but before long it’s full of food wrappers, plastic bottles, and the occasional French fry in the seat cushion.  Later it’s called a piece of junk and eventually ends up in an auto junk yard.  Even our government thinks that they can solve physical and/or spiritual problems by throwing money at them rather than supporting the keeping of families together.  The government has actually played a large part in the increase of single-parent homes by entitling single parents to collect the money of taxpayers.  There are some needs that should be addressed, but this “entitlement mentality” has gotten out of hand, and the government is to blame.  Rather than encouraging men to take responsibility for the children that they father, these men are let off the hook, and the mothers must depend upon government subsidies.  The mothers also share in the blame because they become pregnant by men to whom they are not married.  Their children grow up in a fatherless home, and the cycle repeats.  Thus, the taxpayers’ money did nothing to solve the problem; it only perpetuates it.  When money is thrown at problems, instead of getting to the root causes, the problems only increase.

I Timothy 6:10a tells us that “the love of money is the root of all evil.”  It has been said that if you desire to find the initial cause of most wrongdoing, criminal activity, or evil deceptions, then “follow the money trail”.  Bribes, kickbacks, influence peddling, the abortion industry, vote-buying, scams, and just about all other forms of ungodly enterprises are all carried out for money.  It is clear that money is not the problem, it’s the love of money that creates so much wickedness.  Even in ancient times, money was paid to the church (indulgences) in order to receive forgiveness of sin.  This was one of the policies of the church which led Martin Luther to post his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany, in 1517.  The love of money has not been just a problem for the 20th and 21st centuries.  Greed has been around for a long time.

The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 84:10-11: “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.  I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly”.  Money can’t buy love, health, joy, peace, or contentment.  Those valued possessions can only be found in a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.