There is an often miss quoted scripture that ” Money is the root of all evil”. The verse in question is; 1 Tim6:10, “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”. (NIV)
Money is neither good nor evil, it is amoral, a tool which can be used for good or damage. It is the profit motive that drives business success. Profit is not a four letter word. It is a motivator and a goal, it brings with it growth and investment, sustainability and employment. Money buys freedom of choice and options to give and sow into the work of the kingdom.
The issue with profit is, at what cost will you seek to attain it? What is it in you and your business that constrains the wanton pursuit of profit at all cost? Greed is moderated by giving; God calls us to a generous life, a giving life, as demonstrated by His Son, who gave his life for all.
The pursuit of wealth for wealth’s sake will bring with it collateral damage in other areas of life, if not counterbalanced with a generous spirit. Moderation is a virtue and Gods principles of giving and sacrifice, bring balance to our natural tendency for greed.
The Holy Spirit will encourage and convict us as we seek to work out the balance of a healthy drive for a successful business and the social, ethical, and moral imperatives, within which context the push for gain is contained.
May God bless your business, and balance your life, with generosity and wisdom.
A question arises by way of desire for a self-test at what point may one recognize in oneself a passage from labor for profit as a means to godly ends on the one hand to idolatrous love of Mammon.
Or along that road, how does one recognize in oneself those thorns of riches as they begin to choke out the word, making it unfruitful? If the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, what bitter fruit does such love produce that we may see them in ourselves and turn again to the path of life?
In brief I can think of two general answers given constraints of time and space, with an open invitation to rejoinders or additions from others.
One, service of Mammon and service of God are mutually incompatible loyalties according to Jesus. This suggests the root lies in heart commitment. When on the job one becomes willing to bend one’s ethics (assuming they were Jesus’ ethics here) in order to accomplish or maintain some business advancement, when one’s means to achieve business ends stray into anger, revenge, fear, cheating, over-promising (in some cases, perhaps barring misunderstanding of fact), or other vices, one may be assured one’s fundamental trust in God has correspondingly eroded.
Second, the deceitfulness of riches (and the worries and pleasures of this life as Jesus notes) is what choke out the word as thorns a domestic crop. At some point, our unwillingness to repent becomes our inability. As advanced diabetes or leprosy may deaden nerves as it destroys or facilitates the destruction of tissue, so sin blinds us to ourselves. The root of evil grows first unseen before producing sin and death.
Not for no reason did John in parting shot warn readers, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 Jn 5). Not for no reason does the author of the NT book of Hebrews exhort us to continue meeting together for mutual edification, “lest any of you become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3).
Hi Mark. interesting insight on money. I’m thinking of writing on Preachers and Money. Ok everyone talks about it but I have unsaved folks and when I mention preaching they think ‘money.’ How sad! A misrepresentation of the gospel. I was thinking this morning of this line. ‘The gospel or its doctrine is not ours to modify, alter or make relevant’ any approach by man to custom make the gospel to fit its audience disualifies a man from the title preacher of the gospel.
Anyway thanks for your insight. I like your balanced view here and what you said, ”Profit is not a four letter word. It is a motivator and a goal, it brings with it growth and investment, sustainability and employment. Money buys freedom of choice and options”
The Lord bless you
Paul
Hi Mark,
This is a great website. It touches an important ministry: God at work.
I haven’t explored all of the content on it yet.
I like the treatment of money not being the root of all evil.
Keep up the good work
Con