Read with Me
1 Timothy 6:6-10 (HCSB)
But godliness with contentment is a great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world,
and we can take nothing out.
But if we have food and clothing,
we will be content with these.
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
Listen with Me
The opposite of these false teachers who were promoting false gospels for money (the true gospel was and is freely available at no charge), is contentment. The chase for money and “stuff” corrupted people, who then corrupted the good news and twisted it to serve themselves, not God.
Paul was the ultimate realist. Understood that we came into the world with nothing, and that no matter how wealthy we might become in this life, we will leave it with nothing as well.
That wisdom, together with what he had learned from books like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, helped him to realize that the goal of this life is not the amassing of wealth or living in comfort, but contentment with what one has here, and building up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).
Those who pursue treasure on Earth obtain either worldly wealth or endless disappointment when their desires don’t materialize. And even if they are successful, worldly wealth can disappear in a moment with a single poor choice or economic downturn. And, of course, it must all be left behind when this life is over. But the wealth that has stored up for God in heaven will last for all eternity. It will never be lost.
A sad point that Paul brings out as that, while money itself is morally neutral, the love and single hearted pursuit of money is a root of all kinds of evil. If the pursuit of money and stuff is allowed to become the goal of one’s life, it will almost immediately become a god for that person, no matter the religious trappings they have in their lives. It will encourage those people to corrupt the gospel, as the false teachers were doing, or to forsake the faith altogether, ultimately dulling their sense of the holy, closing their spiritual eyes and deafening their spiritual ears, and they will ultimately be lost.
Pray with Me
Father, this is an important warning for us today. Every moment of every day we are bombarded with ads that try to persuade us to pursue wealth, comfort, and stuff so that we can be happy. But even if we manage to obtain all that, we find that the promised happiness still eludes us, because there is always more wealth, more comfort, and more stuff that we are told we simply must have. And that never-ending pursuit so easily turns us away from the pursuit of Your kingdom and Your righteousness (Matthew 6:33), which lies in the exact opposite direction. Lord, help me to keep my priorities straight and in line with Your word so that I never succumb to the siren song of the world, which never satisfies, and which ultimately I must leave behind. Amen.