Financial Discipleship - the Bible on GreedExemplo

The desire to become rich is strictly prohibited; 1 Timothy 6:9 states, “But 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.” Study this carefully. Everyone who wants to get rich will “fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.”

For most of my life, I wanted to become rich—not just a little rich; filthy rich! So, dealing with the biblical prohibition against this attitude has been painful for me. Sometimes, even now, I vacillate between wanting to get rich and wanting to be a faithful steward. When I want to get rich, I am self-centered. My motivations for wanting to get rich may vary—pride, greed, or an unhealthy compulsion to prepare for survival in an uncertain economic future. However, when I focus on being a faithful steward, I am Christ-centered in my thoughts and attitudes. My actions are then motivated by a pure heart. I am serving Christ and growing closer to Him.

This passage follows the prohibition against wanting to get rich in 1 Timothy 6:9: “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). In other words, when we want to get rich, Scripture tells us that we are loving money.

Matthew 6:24 says: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money].” Think about this carefully. When we want to get rich, we are actually loving money and hating God. We are holding on to money and despising God. We are serving money and, therefore, not serving the living God. First Timothy 6:10 ends by saying, “Some by longing for [riches] have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.”

I have witnessed firsthand the truth of this scripture. I deeply admired the man who led me to Christ, but he became consumed by a desire to get rich. He divorced his wife and abandoned his four young sons. Ultimately, he denied Christ and wandered away from the faith. Wanting to get rich, which is the love of money, is a devastating spiritual condition in which to be.

Understand me clearly. I am not saying getting rich is wrong. In fact, I rejoice to see God sovereignly enable a man or woman to prosper. Nothing is wrong with becoming wealthy if it is a by-product of being a faithful steward.

Split and Submit

We overcome the temptation to get rich by remembering to split and submit. In 1 Timothy 6:11, Paul counsels Timothy to “flee from these things [the desire to get rich], you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.” When you become aware of your desire to become rich, you must flee (split) from that temptation and replace it with the pursuit of godliness.

Next, submit. The ultimate way of escape is found in submitting to Jesus as Lord. We can do this in perfect confidence because Jesus overcame a massive temptation to become rich. After Christ fasted 40 days in the wilderness, the devil tempted Him three times. The final temptation is recorded in Luke 4:5-7: “[The devil] led Him [Jesus] up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, ‘I will give You all this domain and its glory . . . if You worship before me.’” Can you imagine what an incredible temptation this would present?

When I was in the real estate development business and discovered a prime piece of property, I would almost immediately begin to covet it and revel in the possibility of becoming rich. Jesus was exposed to all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. But because He was submitted entirely to the Father and empowered by the same Holy Spirit who lives in us, He was able to resist that temptation.

I believe that our heavenly Father will never ultimately prosper His children when they are motivated to get rich. Wanting to get rich—loving money—closely parallels greed. And “greed . . . amounts to idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). The Father watches jealously over His children to ensure that we will not be drawn away from loving Him with all our hearts.

(excerpt taken from Your Money Counts, Howard Dayton, 2020)