Among the most misquoted passages of Scripture is 1 Timothy 6:10, which some may remember as reading, “Money is the root of all evil.”
It’s one thing to notice that it is not money that is the problem but actually “the love of money.” In other words, the rich are not, simply by virtue of being rich, evil. If we’re going to be faithful to the Scriptures, though, we also need to recognize that the fruit of a love for money is not all evil—as in all the evil that ever was—but “all kinds of evils.” Properly, the verse is as it reads in the ESV: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.”
What Paul is expressing is that there is no kind of evil to which the love of money may not lead us if it takes hold. Some have gone as far as apostacy: They have “wandered from the faith,” and in the process “pierced themselves with many pangs.”
It is imperative, therefore, that we ask ourselves, “Am I a lover of money?”
Testing Ourselves
We can consider eight telltale signs, any of which may reveal this sin in our hearts:
First, if thoughts of money consume our days, then we love money. If we set our minds into neutral, and they start drifting toward money—how much we’ve got, how much we’re going to get, how our stocks are doing, whatever else it is—we reveal ourselves to be eager for money.
Second, if the financial success of others makes us jealous, then we love money. If we find that we resent the car, the house, the suit, the purse, the shoes that others have, we will be letting our love of money overrule our love for our neighbors.
Third, if we are tempted to define success in terms of what we have rather than who we are in Christ, then we love money. The measure of ourselves should not be based on the fact that the accounts are full, the house is big, the things are fine, and so on. It should be that Christ Jesus “loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
Fourth, if we neglect our families in our pursuit of money, then we love it. Someone who loves money will be tempted to skip meals, games, and every kind of time spent together in love, not because of some real necessity but out of a sense of urgency to earn more and more. We do not serve our families by neglecting them for the sake of “providing” for them.
The measure of ourselves should not be based on the fact that the accounts are full, the house is big, the things are fine, and so on. It should be that Christ Jesus “loved me and gave himself for me.”
Fifth, if we close our eyes to the genuine needs of others, then we love money. Paul teaches that when we have abundance, we should provide for need (2 Cor. 8:13–14). If we slink away from giving, as the rich young ruler did (Matt. 19:22; Mark 10:22; Luke 18:23), we show where our heart really is (Matt. 6:21; Luke 12:34).
Sixth, if we live with the fear of losing our money—if we wake up at night and think, “What will happen to me if it’s gone?”—then we love money. “If we have food and clothing,” writes Paul, “with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6:8). In other words, we do have a real need for some basic resources, for which we can trust God (Matt. 6:25–34; Luke 12:22–31); but we ought not to fear losing what we don’t really need.
Seventh, if we are prepared to borrow ourselves into bondage, then we love money. We can be so consumed with having certain kinds and qualities of things that we refuse to live realistically within our means. It’s one thing to need money to get the basics at the grocery store. It’s another thing entirely if you go to the grocery store in a Rolls-Royce.
Eighth and finally, when God receives our leftovers rather than our firstfruits, it’s safe to say that we love money. If money is not our god, then there should be no hindrance to handing money over to God when He asks it—particularly in supporting the work of the Gospel.
Entrusting Ourselves
Jill Briscoe writes,
Years ago I stopped looking to anyone else but God to satisfy me. I have learned to be content with such things as I have, for He has said that He will never leave me nor forsake me (see Heb. 13:5). There is no man that can love me enough, no child that can need me enough, no job that can pay me enough and no experience that can satisfy me enough. Only Jesus! The compass of my life must be set in His direction and by His direction, and then it will, like a real compass, not be affected by movement!1
Our witness for Christ in the world depends a great deal on whether our faith in Christ really makes us different. Our whole culture is built on bodies, brains, and bucks. We want status, whether physical, intellectual, or financial—and preferably all three. But the prophet says, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me” (Jer. 9:23–24).
It’s one thing to need money to get the basics at the grocery store. It’s another thing entirely if you go to the grocery store in a Rolls-Royce.
We may have all these gifts. We may lack them all. The question is: Are they our masters, or do we use them to serve the Master? If we love money, repentance from the love of money will be necessary so that we can serve the Lord. In the Lord’s service, there are not the self-inflicted “pangs” Paul mentions; there is the joy His presence and the promise of His riches.
And so, if after examining ourselves we find ourselves perhaps too attached to the love of money, we can pray with the hymn writer:
Cleanse me from my sin, Lord,
Put Thy power within, Lord,
Take me as I am, Lord,
And make me all Thine own.
Keep me day by day, Lord,
Underneath Thy sway, Lord;
Make my heart Thy palace
And Thy royal throne.2
We ought to aspire to say in sincerity, “Whether I make a buck or not, whether I’m well-known or live in obscurity, whatever I do and wherever I go and whatever it costs, this is what I want you to do, Lord. This is what I want to be for you.” And the promise of God’s Word for the individual who is prepared to say that and mean it is that God will never be that person’s debtor—for there is no good thing that the Lord will withhold from those whose walk uprightly (Ps. 84:11).
This article was adapted from the sermons “Restructuring Our Finances” and “Contentment or Corruption? — Part Two” by Alistair Begg.
