1 Timothy 6:10 – Three Minute Bible

Cartoon of a man climbing a thorn bush to get money. (Grok)

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Summary: Paul’s words describe a journey that none of us want to take.

Paul’s words in this passage paint an interesting picture.

“Some people, eager for money…”

Not all people, but some fall into the “trap” he refers to in verse nine. These people do not seem to have their eyes on Jesus. Instead, they give their love to the “root of … evil,” … money.

When they take their eyes away from the Shepherd, something horrible happens. Something they are not even aware of at the time.

These people “… have wandered from the faith.”

Now that is evocative. A child can wander from its parents and get lost. A chick can wander from its mother and get eaten. A sheep can wander from the shepherd and fall into a ditch or worse, find itself attacked by wolves.

People who have turned their eyes away from Jesus and focused on money, someday look up and realize that they are all alone. No shepherd, no other sheep, no help in sight if something bad happens.

That is when we arrive at the last part of Paul’s sentence. These people who have turned from Jesus to chase after money find themselves “pierced with many griefs.”

What does that look like?

The answer to this question is both personal and public. The personal part is where the “griefs” occur. The public part is where others see what is going on, but not directly. They see the outer person doing what people do, but they also sense that something is wrong. They see what the pain of grief is doing to the money chaser on the inside.

And isn’t that the way it always is?

We can sense something is wrong in another person, but since we can’t see it directly, we are not able to point to it and say, “Hey, that thing you are thinking — that is going to get you in trouble. Stop it.”

This is one of those situations where “the sins of others trail behind them” (1 Timothy 5:25). We see the money lover headed for trouble, but we don’t actually “see” the trouble until after they get there.

And that is when we, and they, see the grief.

Grief, you see, is another word for “sorrow,” and deep sorrows are hard to hide.

Application: Avoid the pain. Stick close to Jesus.

Food for Thought: Ecclesiastes 10:19 says, “… money is the answer for everything.” If we are not to be “eager for money,” yet we need money, what are we to do instead?

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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?

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Tag: 1 Timothy 6:10

1 Timothy 6:10b – The Money Chaser

1 Timothy 6:10a – The Root of Evil