Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Friday March 9, 2007

I often give people the idea that money in and of itself is evil. I do not intend to communicate this falsehood. People jump to the conclusion of money being evil due to the misreading of 1Timothy 6:10. The masses read, "For money is the root of all evil." The actual reading of 1 Timothy 6:10 is:

"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."

You can see the difference that one word makes in a verse, a book, an attitude and a life. We do not and must not remove or add to God's Word. Each word is a part of the whole and to mess with the words may lead to all sorts of goofy ideas. Many of the men and women in the Bible were filthy rich and others had nothing, even sleeping in the holes in the earth, yet God loved and used each in spite of, even because of their wealth or lack thereof.

Tragically those of us born poor, as I have shamefacedly admitted, I was born naked in a little town on the Northern tip of the Chesapeake Bay, Havre de Grace, MD. The only justification for being born in such poverty is that I wanted to be near Mom. And I grew up just one step removed from nakedness. It was natural for kids in our neighborhood to love money. Actually we loved what we thought money could do. A realistic study of God's Word will reveal the purpose of money in our life, how to use it, when to use it, and what it will and what it will not do. People are to be loved and money is to be used. Our society, even the members who are sitting on pews, live life the other way around: we use people and love money. Bad mistake.

I heard the late Earl Nightingale say, "Learning what purposes money is for, what it is designed to do and making the distinction is big step toward a healthy career, marriage and life." Earl helped millions of people earn millions through his radio and motivation programs, yet he had a genuine grasp of the Doctrine of Money.

Alan Watts touched on this theme when he wrote:

"A chest of gold coins or a fat wallet of bills is of no use whatsoever to a wrecked sailor alone on a raft."

It is a well known truth that a bag of gold at the Pearly White Gates would not be impressive as the streets in the Celestial City are said to be made of pure gold. Something besides money is necessary to gain entrance, and that something is called 'precious' meaning the of incomparable value blood of Christ. And the opulence of the dwellings in the city is as far as I can tell, based on faithful service to the ONE who sacrificed it all on Calvary's cross. More than most people understand, true service rendered faithfully is the coin of the realm, not only in heaven, but also right here in this life. Giving more and better service is still the key to overcoming many a problem.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.

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