Posts Tagged ‘Richness’

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Amos 6:1a,14-16
I Timothy 6:16-19
Luke 16:19-31

Money is not the problem.  Money is neutral in itself; it’s simply a means to facilitate commerce and trade in our daily lives.  Having money is also not the problem: there are many examples, particularly in the Hebrew Scriptures, of people who considered their wealth a gift from God, and used their wealth to help and benefit others.  It’s not money itself, but the love of money that poses a dangerous threat.

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul is criticizing a group of what he calls “false teachers” whose “love of money” taints and motivates their behavior and teaching. They are supposedly teaching the Christian faith, but they are doing so for their own personal gain.  They are more interested in profits than in people.

Lest his hearers fall into a similar trap, Paul outlines some of the dangers of an excessive love of money.  First, he says, we should recall that “we brought nothing into the world… and we can take nothing out of it.”  Our lives do not revolve around money or possessions or the status that they may bring us. Read More