Dealing With the Foxes of Covetousness and Love of Money

UV 1525/10000 Dealing with the Twin Foxes of Covetousness and the Love of Money
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows
I Timothy 6 v 10
Back in school I wrote a short essay on money and started with “ Money is the protoplasm of life”. As scripture says, not money but the love of money that is the root of all evil. The love of money is the worship of Mammon- the god of money. It is sacrificing all values at the altar of Mammon. It is about giving priority to money over the Bread of Life- Jesus and the Word of God. It is a belief that if we get enough money all our problems and sorrows would be solved and assuaged. It is living by sight and not by faith- finding confidence to face life on the basis of how much bank balance remains. The love of money is the spirit of covetousness that God forbade in the ten commandments. It is the love of money that led to the sin of Balaam. He disobeyed God to act at the behest of the king to curse Israel. The uni-verse says that the love of money will lead us into many errors in our lives and we will stray from the path of faith or a right relationship with the Lord. The love of money also leads us into folly, wrong decisions and we end up inviting many sorrows and other issues into our lives.

It is said that money is a good servant but a bad master. It is to be used as a tool to meet our need and to help others in their need. When we give to the needy, we are lending to the Lord. When we give liberally and regularly from what God has given us, we break the hold of covetousness or love of money in our lives. The desire for bribes is driven not by need but by greed. Gehazi ran after Naaman, the general who was healed of leprosy, in order to collect a reward of money. The result was that Elisha declared that the leprosy of Naaman would afflict his servant Gehazi. Money gained through hard work, talent or enterprise is not condemned. It is condemned as “filthy lucre” when the means to obtain it are not legitimate. We should not set our heart on wealth. Wealth would then become an idol in our hearts and lead us astray and into other evils, away from the love of God.

Ananias and Saphira, the couple who donated the money that they got by selling their own house, kept back a portion and lied about it. This error led to their falling dead soon after. Covetousness or the desire to possess things that others possess leads to the love of money as money is seen as something that can obtain anything that one desires. In view of all these negative models as well as the positive models of Abraham giving a tithe to Melchizedek, the king of Salem, of Jacob promising a tithe to Jehovah, we should tie the tails of covetousness and the love of money and set them on fire. Scripture exhorts us to flee from the love of money and covetousness and pursue with equal or greater vigour – righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness.
Prateep V Philip