For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Summary: Money is often misunderstood, and even more often misused.
This is, perhaps, one of the most misremembered lines in all of history. Most people, if they use this phrase, end up saying, “Money is the root of all evil.”
That is not quite the same thing.
Money is not evil. It is not even a “root.” It is, rather, something poorly understood, because it is not even really a “thing.”
The dictionary definition of money is usually something like “a medium of exchange.” The problem with that definition is what they don’t tell you about money. It is true that money is a medium of exchange, but the value of money is not in the money itself. The value is what we personally attach to the money.
For example, let’s imagine that we each want to go to the store and buy new shoes. We go to the shoe store and look around. Each pair of shoes has a price tag on it that tells us how much money the store will accept in exchange for the shoes.
If you are like me, you check the price before trying on the shoes. (No point in wasting time if I don’t have enough money to buy them.) But what if I like an expensive pair of shoes that I can’t afford. What if I really like them a LOT. What if I feel like I can’t live without them?
Do you see where this is going?
Wanting something that doesn’t belong to me is called coveting. The Bible has a lot to say about coveting but it all boils down to one word: Don’t! (Exodus 20:17)
Don’t take what is not yours. Don’t even look at it.
If “good” is doing God’s will, then “evil” must be doing the opposite, and that is why Paul says it is the love of money that is evil. When people equate money with possessions, our “coveting” is transferred from one thing, like the shoes we wanted, to the money itself. If we allow ourselves to “love” money, the love of money becomes concentrated coveting.
It’s a bit like breaking the Tenth Commandment with a sledgehammer.
Application: Use money, don’t love it.
Food for Thought: How do we avoid the trap of loving money?
Please click ‘’Continue Reading” for comments.
One way is to love God more and acknowledge that loving money is really loving a false god.
Thank you, Rich!
Yes — there is always room to love God more! Excellent point!
It has been my experience that placing trust in money initially placates the turmoil with a person regarding their inner sense of identity, relationships, control, security, and fear. Then that gratification grows into entitlement, entitlement into coveting, and coveting into arrogance. So if the love of money were a house, it would be a house with a foundation of insecurity, a structure of entitlement, and a roof of arrogance. The love of money then becomes leveraging another person’s needs to get more of what one wants or believes they need, instead of helping meet another’s needs out of love. I write this and know that it all sounds very nefarious and evil, but it can manifest itself quickly and in very small ways.
How do we avoid the trap of loving money?
1) Place our foundation in Christ and keep Christ as our foundation. Place our faith in Him, make Him Lord of our life, give to Him our burdens. He is faithful to meet our needs, whether that be redeem our past, or in the hope of the future.
1 Corinthians 3:11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:6–7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
2) Serve one another continually, faithfully, and without expectation. It is impossible to love money and help others generously, just as it is impossible to love God and money.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
3) In reverence and humility, strive to stand in the presence of God, in each decision and each moment, with a clear conscience.
Hebrews 13:18
18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
Acts 24:16
16 So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.
Thanks, Chris!
“A house of insecurity…” Excellent description!
The roof metaphor was the shingle best part! 🙂