1 Timothy
6:9 – 11 People who want to get rich fall
into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that
plunge men into ruin and destruction.
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. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
Roughly 1 billion seconds ago it was 1977. Roughly 1 billion minutes ago, Jesus walked
the earth with the 12 disciples. If you
worked at minimum wage, for 63, 678 years - without a vacation- you would have
made a Billion dollars. That is before
taxes of course. If a four-inch stack of
dollar bills amounts to $1000. A billion dollars would be a stack of dollar
bills 62.5 miles high. No matter how you
stack it, a billion is a massive quantity of anything.
It is not every generation that can say they have lived in
financially historic times. But those alive
today can lay claim that dubious honor.
For the past year we have been seen newspaper articles, television news
reporters, and websites pouring out the same dismal theme, “The money is gone. Where
did the money go?” We have seen the lust
for money unchecked displayed prominently in the headlines. A new saying has been born. “He pulled a Madoff and made off with all the
money.” And depending on what source you
go to, it was between $20 Billion to $65 Billion that Bernie Madoff made off
with. We have heard tales of opulence and excess that boggle the mind. It’s like when you lift up a rock and all
kinds of bugs go running off when exposed to the light day. The sin of greed, like the bugs, are seldom
pretty when exposed to the light of day.
Paul, in his letter to Timothy, cautions him against the
love of money. We, as Timothy before us,
should flee from greed. It is not just a
simple matter of turning away. Paul tells
Timothy, in our language, to run away from the trap of greed. And we, like Timothy, should take his words
to heart. We should pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. These are not physical attributes. They are attributes of character more suited
to furthering the kingdom of our Lord. These
sound very much like the spiritual gifts we are endowed with.
In the final analysis, how much is enough? We could certainly ask those that have gone
before us how much of the wealth they were able to take with them. Or, we could ask Bernie Madoff how useful the
Billions are to him now that he is in prison for the 150 years? The answer in both cases would be none.
Prayer: Father, we come to You for
answers to the many questions in our lifetime.
And here we are again. Asking You
to make Your will known to us. Help us
to discern Your will for us as we move forward in Growing With Grace. Help us to know what each of us can give to
further Your kingdom here. This we ask
in the name of Your Son, our Savior. Amen.
