Have You Baptized Your wallet?
Money is not the Root of All Evil
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
If I asked you to define the root of all evil according to the Bible, you may respond "it's money." And your response would probably be based on 1 Timothy 6:10. This is one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible. People think this verse says “Money is the root of all evil.” The verse actually reads, “The LOVE of money is the root of all evil.”
Money is simply a tool, like a hammer. Tools have no intrinsic value – they are neither good nor evil. Saying money is the root of all evil is like saying that a hammer is evil. What can be evil (or less than good) is our love of money, the decisions we make when using money, our attitude about money, and the things on which we spend money.
Our culture sends a constant barrage of messages about what we need to buy in order to be happy, fulfilled and satisfied. It's all too easy to fall for that message and give money and material goods an importance they don't deserve.
No matter what our culture tells us, seeking material goods in order to be happy is an empty promise. The only thing that can make us truly happy, fulfilled and satisfied is a life in Christ.
The Bible has more than 2,500 verses that relate to money, possessions and stewardship. There are about 500 verses on faith and fewer than 500 on prayer. The Bible says more about money than any other subject.
From the Old Testament times until today, God knew how much of our lives would be devoted to the effort of making, managing and spending what the world considers wealth. He knew how the worldly view of money would tempt us and pull us in a direction away from him.
In view of how often the Bible teaches godly principles of handling money, we have choices to make.
How will you choose to live your life? Will you choose to focus on the secular world or on God’s kingdom? We can use money to fulfill selfish desires or we can use money to further God’s kingdom on earth. We can use money to keep up with the neighbors or we can use money to help our neighbors. We can use money to accumulate worldly wealth or we can realize that true wealth is not of this world.
We can worship money or we can worship God. Is your love of money the root of all evil in your life?
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About the Author
A Faithful Steward is an outreach of Compass Catholic Ministries. The mission of Compass Catholic Ministries is to inspire individuals and families to unite their faith and finances by providing information and tools, illuminated by our Catholic faith, allowing them to become financially unburdened and able to say “yes” to God’s call. We hope that our blog posts and articles will help Catholics to put their faith into action using their finances to carry out and continue the work of Jesus Christ on earth.
