Wanting To Be Rich Has A Dark Side
"For they that will become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition." - 1 Timothy 6:9
When a rather selfish TV character was reminded that money doesn't buy happiness, she quickly replied, "Oh, of course it does. That's just something we tell poor people to keep them from rioting." Not only does money not buy happiness, but the desire to be rich can add many complications to your life.
The Bible makes it clear that the desire to be rich brings many new temptations into your life. What are some of those temptations? Well, it can be the temptation to lie or to steal. It can be the temptation to use and even run over other people to have more wealth. It can be the temptation to defraud other people to have more wealth. This focus to have more and more money can cause one temptation after another and the next thing you know, we can find ourselves doing things we never thought we'd do. We can make life a mess. When wealth becomes our priority, we are not willing to acknowledge that all we think we own is God's and that victory with money—be it a little or a lot—is using His money in a way that pleases Him.
Wealth earned honestly can be a blessing. It can do a lot of good. But the desire to be rich so we can spend it or hoard it for ourselves can cause us to give into all sorts of unhealthy temptations.
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6 Comments
As the great philospher, Biggie Smalls said, "Mo money, mo problems."
- Austin
To paraphrase a comment by someone else a while back, God told us we should have no other gods before him. Too often the persuit of money can become another god. - jfp
The Bible also says the root of all evil is money. If we aren't careful having a lot of money can hurt us and those around us. You don't have to be rich to hoard money. However, the less money you have the harder it is to hoard. - Kimberly Pepper
Scripture says that the LOVE of money is the root of evil. Not the money itself. Just like anything else we must keep the "things" that we have in proper pespective with the Giver of all things. - Sherry
I heard a great sermon about money while in Texas. The pastor told a funny joke. "So, a man wins the lottery and calls his wife. He says, Honey pack a bag, I won the lottery!!! She says great!!...should I pack for warm weather or cold weather?? He says, I don't care...just be gone when I get home." - Melanie
how can my become my best friend, - Rickey Martin