The Bible Says Money Is The Root Of All Evil!!! Or Does It???

How many times have you heard someone say money is the root of all evil? Seems like everytime I hear this quoted on television or in the media they always say that the Bible says money is the root of all evil. Well what does the Bible says:

1 Timothy 6:10 KJV 

10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

So the Bible doesn't say money is the root of all evil but it says the love of money is the root of all evil. You might ask what is "the love of money" and I would answer in the simplest way possible. GREED or LUST for money!!!  So greed or lust for money is what the Bible actually refers to when it says the love of money.

The love of money is a sin just like any other sin. It doesn't matter if you're a Christian or sinner. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. I honestly think it would be safe to say that at one time or another we all have committed this sin. The Bible speaks many different times about this sin and I want to share three examples with you here today.

First I want to talk about Achan. Achan was from the tribe of Judah and he was just one of the men that fought in Joshua's army when the Israelities were coming out of the wilderness into the Promise Land. According to the Bible before the Israelites fought at Jericho Joshua told the army "All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” God caused the walls of Jericho to collapse and Joshua's army charged in and took it. They killed every life in it except Rahab and her family. Then the army went around collecting all the silver, the gold, and the articles of bronze and iron from the city. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it. Achan didn't turnover everything he took from Jericho. He kept a robe, silver, and gold for himself and he buried them. He knew he was not supposed to take anything for himself but the love (greed or lust) of money got him to do what he knew was wrong. Because of this sin it brought a curse upon the Israelites.  God made them lose the first battle against Ai. When his sin was discovered Achan, his family, and his possessions were stoned to death and burnt in the Valley of Achor. If you want to study this out you can go to Joshua 7 and read all about it.

Now we all know the story of Samuel. Samuel was a Nazirite and mighty prophet of God. One day I'll make a post on Samuel the prophet but today I want to focus on his sons Joel and Abiah. When Samuel was old he appointed his sons Joel and Abiah as judges over Israel in Beer-sheba. The Bible says that his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgement. Lucre means money that was obtained dishonesty but it also means to teach things wrong for the sake of money. It got so bad that the elders came to Samuel and demanded that he appoint a king to rule over them like other nations had. So because of Joel and Abiah's love (greed or lust) for money the nation of Israel went away from having judges rule (God's plan) to having a king rule (man's plan). All this can be found in 1 Samuel 8 if you are interested in studying it out for yourself.

Finally I want to talk about the most well known example of the love of money in the Bible Judas Iscariot. Now during Jesus' ministry people would donate money to Him and it was kept in a money box. Judas was entrusted with the money box so he was basically the treasurer of the ministry. Judas like all of us had a weakness and his weakness was the love of money. Sooner or later Judas began to steal money from the money box. After a while this wasn't enough to satisfy he's greed and this weakness allowed him to be manipulated by the enemy. Luke 22 says that the devil entered Judas and he went to the religious leaders offering to betray is master Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. After he betrayed Jesus Judas tried to give the 30 pieces of silver back to the religious leaders but they would not accept it because it was considered blood money. Soon thereafter Judas committed suicide so he didn't even get to use the money for anything. 

I want to end by giving honor where honor is due. Thank you Abba Father for keeping your hand upon me and my life. Thank you Jesus for being my Lord and Savior and for dying on the cross so that I could have eternal life. Thank you Holy Spirit for giving me guidance, discipline, comfort, and for being so much more to me than just a tongue talker.