⁹But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Money comprises a huge part of modern life. Idealists spout platitudes about living the simple life, but the power of financial resources is inescapable. Of course, we are not thinking solely of paper currency, but wealth in general, and that includes all of our possessions. As many have pointed out, it is not money that is the problem, but the “love of” money. It is our relationship to it that is the concern here. Money by itself is simply a tool to accomplish things. We exchange it for things and experiences. We use money as a means for distributing influence and blessing.

We do not use the term “wealth” exclusively for the rich, but as a generic term to describe our relative buying power. Some have more wealth than others. Even those we might define as poor have some wealth, meager as it may be, if only the clothes on their back. Paul’s teaching here is not just to those who control billions of dollars!

The root of “all sorts of evil” then is the love of wealth, the driving desire to become rich. The compelling desire becomes a prison, so that rather than the person controlling their wealth, that desire controls them. They become forced like slave labor into “foolish and harmful desires.” In other words, people do stupid things when they set financial goals that trump all else. Ultimately the unbridled desire for wealth can drive a person away from faith in God, who supplies them with everything they need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Money buys us comfort, pleasures, influence, experiences, control. With money we can get our way, we can take revenge, we can outdo others, we can flaunt ourselves. With money we can gain physical security and protection; we can avail ourselves of better health care, bigger homes, more entertainment, nicer clothes. People admire what we have, where we travel, the size of our homes, the fancy cars, our vacation homes, our investment portfolios, better seats at the ball game. Think about it. These things are all temporary at best; what an absolute waste of a life pursuing things that never give contentment!

When we weigh them in the balance over against contentment, there is no comparison. In the end, contentment wins out, for the pursuit of wealth is never satisfied! Contentment by definition is choosing to be satisfied. And that can be had by anyone, regardless of how much they have. Which do you choose?

Lord, help me always choose contentment over the unhealthy desire for riches.