by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
The number one enemy competing with God for control of our hearts, minds, and lives is not Baal, Molech, Zeus, or Jupiter. It is, no doubt, money. Money seems to make life easier. It promises security and protection. It claims to give happiness. It certainly gains a following. And it is visible. It seems more real, even these days when so much of our money is just ones and zeros in a computer somewhere.<\/p>\n
Paul encourages Timothy, the Ephesians, and us to be content with food and clothing. I admit, I struggle with this one. I pray God will grow me to be this content. I think I find it easier to be content because I have so much more than food and clothing.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Paul explains that the desire for wealth leads to temptation. After all, he had already described how the desire for wealth had ruined the teaching of those who enjoyed quarreling about words. The craving for money and riches often leads people to ruin and destruction. In order to chase money, folks have stolen, murdered, gossiped, slandered, lied, cheated, committed immorality, and on the list goes. Some have even wandered from the faith in God because of their faith in money. They have pierced themselves with many pangs.<\/p>\n
I can’t help but think of the apostle Judas Iscariot every time I read this passage. Judas’s problem was not that he hated Jesus. He didn’t betray Jesus because he disliked Jesus or even disagreed with Jesus. He loved money. In pursuit of money, he betrayed innocent blood. When he came to his senses and realized what he had done, he was so pierced through with pangs that he killed himself.<\/p>\n
And that is the problem for any and all of us. We don’t hate Jesus. We love Jesus. But we can’t love money alongside Jesus. That’s not to say we can’t have money or use money. But the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Even as we still go to church, even as we still try to obey God, the love of money will lead us astray. As Jesus said, we can’t serve two masters. We’ll either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24).<\/p>\n
As the old saying goes, money is a good servant, but a terrible master. We can manage money. We can use money. We can spend money. We can save money. But we must be careful. If we start to love money, let us not think we’ll escape unscathed.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Edwin Crozier The number one enemy competing with God for control of our hearts, minds, and lives is not Baal, Molech, Zeus, or Jupiter. It is, no doubt, money. Money seems to make life easier. It promises security and protection. It claims to give happiness. It certainly gains a following. And it is visible.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[549,258,576],"class_list":["post-96695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-greed","tag-money-management","tag-wealth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":96695,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":96695,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":96695,"position":2},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. 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Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":96695,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":96695,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). 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