what’s in your wallet?
May 3, 2009
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (v.10).
READ: 1 Timothy 6:3-10
Recently, I read that nearly 70 percent of all lottery winners end up burning through their winnings and going bankrupt in just a few years. Whoa! Apparently, winning a bunch of money is not what it’s cracked up to be.
Most who hit the jackpot stop using their brain and begin to impulsively spend, spend, spend. They buy toys they don’t need, make bad investments, and give away money to people who exploit them. Before they know it, the money is dried up; they’re drowning in debt. Many end up divorced and embroiled in family feuds.
The experience of the average lottery winner echoes the words of Paul: “People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9).
Most of us have never experienced an enormous influx of cash. Nor do we have a wealthy relative who is going to leave us millions of dollars. But whether we have a little or a lot, we all need to be wise in the way we master money. If we don’t, money will end up mastering us!
Money itself is not evil. It is the “love of money” that becomes a problem (v.10). Paul adds that some who love money “have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
If managed well, money can be a wonderful servant that produces a lot of good for others and for God. At the same time, if mismanaged, it can also turn into a horrible master that will take us to destructive places. The way you spend your money is a good indication of where the control lies.
So what’s in your wallet—a servant or a master? —Jeff Olson
What hard lessons have you learned about the love of money? How will you form a more biblical view of spending it wisely?
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