Money is the root of all evil?

THIS is a popular verse which is misquoted from the Bible. I thought, in light of all the riots, looting, evil, and greed going on around me. It comes from 1 Timothy 6. Below are pasted verses 4-10 in order for you to read them in their original context.

“They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicion and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

“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.”

There is nothing new under the sun. Greed is not new. Stealing is not new. What is astounding is that we allow ourselves to be deceived by the enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy us when we have the benefit of hindsight to see the dangers of these characteristics.

My deepest prayer is that God would grant us wisdom to know that whether we are stealing on an economic level (bribes, corrupt business deals, cheating consumers, abuse of political power, etc) or on a “hard crime” level (home robberies, looting, smash and grabs of cars, etc) — it is all motivated by selfishness and greed and it will destroy us!

From the President to the person selling sweets on the roadside, we are all interconnected. We share the roads, water, electricity, food, medical supplies, etc.

And hear me on this very important point —we share… our church pews and the same Saviour! How sad to know so many who love money so much they would be driven to evil actually profess Christianity!

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