“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ ” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
You don’t have to be rich to be a money-lover. In fact, some of the money-lovingest moments in my life have been times when I was dead broke. I would not have said out loud, “I love money.” But if you’d looked at how I spent my thoughts, time, and emotional energy you might have guessed that I loved it.
Here’s the positive “go” statement in this command: “Stay free from the love of money.” Why did the writer use the word free? Because living for money is a trap. Paul said it this way in 1 Timothy 6:9: “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.”
The funny thing is that we sometimes think getting lots of money is the key to being free. In fact, living for money becomes the very trap we wanted to escape in the first place.
But we all need some money, right? How do we stay out of the trap of making money the point of our lives? How do we live free? Contentment with or without money comes from resting in God and how he has provided for you today. He will never leave or stop taking care of us, even if the bank account runs dry.
Think: Do you sometimes find yourself living for money or the things money can buy? Where’s the line between living for things and living free? Where’s the line between being responsible to earn and spend money wisely and turning money/stuff into the point of life?
Pray: Ask God to help you to keep your life free from the love of money because he is here. Thank him that he promised to never, ever leave you.
Do: Read more about money and contentment in 1 Timothy 6:6-19.