Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Loving Money

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 1 Timothy 6:10

Life is expensive. The growing economic inequality in our culture exasperates that every day. Many people are feeling significant economic pressure, including Christians. Christians have to pay the rent, the electric bill and buy groceries just like everyone else. But how Christians respond to economic pressure should be different than non-believers.

The focus of the Christian life should on serving the Lord, not in accumulating material possessions. That does not mean that believers must live in poverty, but that the pursuit of material possessions should not drive our lives. Our worth has already been declared by the Father when He gave His Son to die for us. No amount of earthly wealth can increase that declared worth, nor can any level of poverty lessen it.

Christians should remember this as they choose their careers and as they look for employment. Will our chosen career put more money in our bank account but leave us little time for serving the Lord? Christians should think carefully before they get into debt. Especially if that debt then requires them to work extra hours in order to service the debt and they no longer have time to serve the Lord.

When Christians don't get the balance of eternal perspective and earthly possessions right, they tend to drift from their faith. They fail to care about their families like they should. They fail to care about the poor like they should. They find themselves working when they should be worshipping with other believers. They find themselves cheating in their taxes or stealing from their employer. All of these things will lead to significant problems at some point. These things make our faith less powerful. They make us self-centered. They cause us to have relationship problems. They can cause us to have legal issues if our love of money outweighs our love of truth and integrity.

Making the love of money the focus of our lives will make us wander from the faith and fill our lives with many pains. We must guard our hearts and keep ourselves focused on Jesus. Only by keeping this focus will we find real contentment in our lives, contentment in our faith, and contentment with our possessions.

Lord, help us keep our focus on You and not on our possessions. Amen. 

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

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