For the Love of Money

“Money money money money, MONEY!”

“Some people got to have it…Hey, Hey, Hey – some people really need it…Hey, listen to me, y’all do thangs, do thangs, do thangs – bad thangs with it

Well, you wanna do thangs, do thangs, do thangs – good thangs with it…talkin’ about cash money, money…Talkin’ bout cash money – dollar bills y’all…”

“For the love of money people will steal from their mother…For the love of money people will rob their own brother…

For the love of money people can’t even walk the streets because they’ll never know who in the world they’re gonna beat for that mean, oh mean, mean green – Almighty Dollar! Cash Money…

For the love of money people will lie, rob, they will cheat…For the love of money people don’t care who they hurt or beat…For the love of money a woman will sell her precious body…

For a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weight, Oh, that mean, mean, mean, mean, mean green, Almighty Dollar!”

The Love of Money

And with those words the O’Jays in 1973 tried to put their best soul/funk spin on one of the most misread and twisted verses about money in the entire Bible. (Interestingly enough, the lead singer of the O’Jays, Eddie Levert, has complained that over the years since his song became a hit, the songs message has also been twisted to promote pro-idolatry practices. The song’s original intended message was about self-awareness and personal control.)

The last core concept and theme about money from the Bible brings us to I Timothy 6:10 which states, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (The King James Version translates the first phrase as “…the love of money is the root of all evil”…) But how many times in your life have you heard the verse quoted, “Money is the root of all evil”? Which then gets interpreted and stretched into the next thought…“Money is evil.”

Money Is Evil?

Like all other inanimate objects, money is not inherently evil. It has no personality, no soul, no conscious or mind with which to produce evil thoughts or actions. It is neutral…neither good or bad. Therefore, we don’t need to fear that by touching it, evil printing press ink will rub off on our skin and mystically force us into doing evil things. It is only when human passion is directed with intense commitment towards this neutral object that evil results. Our love for the mean green grows deep roots that then lead to all different kinds of evil.

Money leading to evil requires a uniquely human touch.

Other than the obvious point of money leading to various kinds of evil, there are two other important realities present in this verse:

• Greediness for money causes some people to stray from their faith. We are not reading here about a loss of faith. Rather, it is a turning in focus from God where we no longer exercise faith in His daily provision. We feel we no longer need to rely on God to meet our needs, and because of this mindset, our faith in Him weakens. We have the means to provide for ourselves now. Why do we need God?

•  The greedy accumulation of wealth can lead to many sorrows that otherwise may not have resulted if the person lacked wealth. Wealth brings with it tremendous freedom, power and potential access to things. There are opportunities that present themselves to the wealthy and many times these opportunities are not beneficial. (I’m sure you can insert here any number of people from our contemporary culture who experienced life pain and sorrow because their wealth took them places where they should not have gone.)

In our pursuit of being debt free and financial freedom we must be self-aware, spiritually strong and on guard to confront the temptations that come with great wealth. Our spiritual enemy, Satan, knows how powerful money can be. He knows we need it to manage our lives, and he uses the fear of not having it to twist our mind and emotions into justifying our wrong actions.

The accumulation of money is not an evil pursuit, but this verse serves as a warning. Grow your financial nest egg, but don’t fall in love with it. We cannot love two G[g]ods.

Do you love your money more than God? How has your love for money created trouble for you?

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Prior Post: Core Concept #6 – Do You Want to Be Debt Free?

Next Post: God’s Provision: “You’re Feeding Me How?” (Part 1)