Money can be a wonderful instrument used for the glory of God. But it also provides a temptation to sin. I hear people in churches blissfully say, “Money is the root of all evil.”
So I ask them, “Where did you get that?”
“It’s in the Bible.”
“Show it to me.”
They freeze.
Here’s what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” My friend, the truth is that money is basically good. It’s the one human invention that sets us apart from the animal kingdom. Money is simply a tool for us to use; simply a medium of exchange; simply a commodity that we use to compare values. You and I need money to exist. And when we use it wisely, we can truly glorify God with money.
If money is evil in itself, God would have had nothing to do with it. Haggai 2:8 says, “‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” Everything belongs to God. He is the one who placed the silver and gold in the earth, and He knows exactly where it is. It all belongs to Him, but He entrusts some of that wealth to us so that we may glorify Him through it.
When we use money to meet our own needs and the needs of our families, we are imitating God’s independence. When we use money to meet the needs of others, we are imitating God’s mercy. When we use money to fulfill the Father’s purpose in His kingdom, we are imitating God’s love.
Money carries with it great responsibility and a constant temptation, but money itself is not evil. We can become immersed in the love of money, and it can turn our heart away from God. That’s why Jesus said you cannot serve two masters—God and money. But, like a friend of mine says, you can serve God with money.
Money is good when it’s your slave, but it’s bad when it’s your master. Jesus gives us a very important warning about excessive accumulation of money in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Some people distort the concepts of ownership, profit, money, and resources. This causes others to think these things are evil in themselves. But they are not. Ultimately, every one of us will provide an account to God for how we used our money, our time, and our lives. There is going to be a day of accountability. We’re going to be judged and rewarded based on what we did with the resources He placed in our hands, how we managed ownership, how we handled profits, how we multiplied resources and money.
This is a message that I wanted to clarify to believers, those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as their only Savior and Lord. But you may be reading this and never have been born again, never committed your life to Christ, never understood what it means to receive His forgiveness, and not have the assurance of eternal life with God the Father through a personal relationship with Jesus the Son.
If you have never committed your life to Him, I believe the Lord is calling you because your eternal life is a million, million, million times more important. Your eternal life is a trillion times more important than this short life in which we live. That is why Jesus said, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matt. 16:26). In other words, the One who created the world knows every inch of planet Earth. He knows exactly where the silver, the gold, and the oil are. He piles them all on one side and then puts your soul on the other side, and He says, “All of the worldly wealth cannot be compared to where you’re going to spend eternity.”
And so, if you never received the Lord Jesus, never repented of your sins, never committed your life to the One who died on the cross and rose again, you could do that tonight. Even if you owned all the Earth’s silver and gold, none of it is worth spending eternity without Christ in the dark, bottomless pit (Rev. 9, KJV).
So if you’ve never committed your life to Christ, I invite you to ask God to forgive you and to thank the Lord Jesus for dying on the cross for you, and paying the wages of your sins. Repent of those sins, and come to Him. Christ will receive you because He promises never to turn down anyone who comes to Him. The Holy Spirit will give you the strength to live for Him all the days of your life. And you will receive “a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:33).###
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Dr. Michael Youssef‘s expertise on the Islamic culture and the Middle East in today’s post-modern world is actively sought by hundreds of thousands of followers around the globe. With a Ph.D. from Emory University in social anthropology, his Egyptian heritage gives him particular insight into the cultural and religious entanglements of international affairs. It is estimated that over 10 million viewers/listeners around the world are tuned in every week through an international Christian media ministry founded by Youssef, www.leadingtheway.org. It broadcasts via radio and television to over 200 countries and in over 20 languages. Follow Youssef, a common sense intellectual and renowned author of 24 books, on twitter @michaelayoussef and through his news blog, www.michaelyoussef.com.
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