This is one post of many from the wealth-building wisdom posts. You can read more here.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. (ESV)
Have you ever wondered how people wander away from faith because of a love of money?
Money means different things to different people. Safety. Optionality. Influence. Status. Freedom. A score in a game that allows us to tell ourselves that we made good choices.
In another part of the Bible, a wicked man describes how foolish it is to trust in somebody unreliable.
An Unreliable Support
To briefly set the scene, a king’s messenger comes to king Hezekiah’s messengers to mock them and demoralize them into an early surrender. He talks about Pharaoh, king of Egypt, as a potential ally to Jerusalem and how that is an unwise idea. Fortunately, king Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God, not Pharaoh, but the word choice Rab-shakeh uses is interesting:
2 Kings 18:21. “Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.” (ESV)
So when we lean on something unreliable, we pierce ourselves and get hurt. When our love of money, and the reasons we pursue it, cause us to abandon righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness, we depart from faith.
The deceptive power of money is its universality in its ability to provide for so many of the things we need. In truth, it is just a commodity lying downstream from our character and the providence of God.
If you have money but lack righteousness, godliness, faith, love, etc. it’s a terrifying existence because you’re so afraid of losing your money; you could fall and not get up.
If someone has righteousness, godliness, faith, and love, they can fall seven times, and rise up again (Proverbs 24:16).
Now we know we should not value money over righteousness. That being said, money is often a gift from God, and we don’t want to mismanage what we’ve been entrusted with. If you run a business, bookkeeping can be an intimidating experience. It feels more like a mini-job. If I take it off your hands, you can be getting more accurate information while saving time to grow your business further (80+ hours a year, most likely). If you’re a Christian business owner who needs a bookkeeper, schedule a call with me to talk about your bookkeeping strategy and future business goals.