Daily Devotional For Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Good morning Southside. Hope your week started well and you are being intentional in your walk with Christ.. We live in the wealthiest and most blessed nation in the world. Yes, we do have poor people and we as a nation should care for them. But for the rest of us, we can go out to eat, go to a movie, and buy clothes almost anytime we want. We are a country whose economy is based on capitalism. There is nothing wrong with capitalism except in how we handle it. 1 Timothy 6:10 says this: “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (NLT).
The Greek New Testament words translated as “love of money” is actually one Greek word: φιλαργυρία, philagurai – this is a compound word that literally means “affection for silver.” It is not money that is evil, but the affection or lust for it. We could create a list that probably would not end listing all the evil that has come from the “love of money.” Such “love” causes people to covet, lie, cheat, steal and murder. The love of money makes people foolish, irrational and illogical. Those who love money, thrash themselves around like an animal caught in a trap, victims of their own lusts.
The love of money has caused many to commit murder. This is James’ point in James 4:1-2, “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? (2) You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it” (NLT).
Paul writes this in 1 Timothy 6:9, “But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction” (NLT). See the word “plunge?” It is the Greek New Testament word [βυθίζω, buthizo]. It means “to sink, to submerge, to drag to the bottom.” It was a word used of ships that sank or someone who drowned. What kind of destruction does Paul refer to in verse 9? The Greek New Testament word is [ἀπώλεια, apoleia]. This word refers to the utter destruction of something and in Scripture, it refers to the eternal destruction of the lost and evil (See Romans 9:22, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Hebrews 10:39, and Revelation 17:8.
Peter condemned Simon, who thought he could buy the Holy Spirit’s power with silver (see Acts 8:20-230> James condemns those who lust and love for money at all costs in James 5:1-5. In the Old Testament, the Jews place their security in their wealth and in their silver and gold. God told the prophet Zephaniah to say these words to His people in Zephaniah 1:18, “Your silver and gold will not save you on that day of the Lord’s anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth” (NLT).
This is why Paul warns us that the love of money leads people away from the faith. People feel they have better security in their financial securities than in the Savior. Our own currency reminds us that this is a trap. Every coin and every dollar bill has these words on them: “In God We Trust” for very good reasons. And the love of money pierces us leaving us many a pang. This is a hunting term that refers to an animal that has been pierced with a spear but keeps trying to get away. Such people’s hearts are pierced or skewered and the pain they endure is actually by their own hands. David reminds of this in Psalm 32:10, “Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord” (NLT). There is an eternal sorrow and torment that comes to those who make money their god. There is nothing wrong with money as long as we keep it in its proper place. We see this in Jesus’ response to the religious leaders who tried to entrap Him with a question about paying taxes in Matthew 22:15-21. The problem with money is not that it exists. The problem with money is our hearts.
In 1 Timothy 6:10, it is clear that money is not evil. In fact, it can do a lot of good for the kingdom of God. It can provide staff, programs, ministries, and buildings for local churches. It can support missions and missionaries around the world. It can be used to provide food, clothing and shelter for the poor. Listen to me: God does not need money. Everything we have is His already. We are to be good stewards of it. Christian author Ron Blue says this: “This means that every spending decision is a spiritual decision.”
This means we have to first not be controlled by it. We must make our top priority what Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-40. Love God as our top priority and then love people second. I know this is challenging in America with the newest, latest and most up-to-date stuff that seems to come out every week. You buy something and a week or month later a “better” one comes out and we want that one. God says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the “love for money” is the taproot that feeds an endless outgrowth of evil.
The “love for money” has taken the most generous person and turned them into the most selfish hoarding person. This desire replaces genuine love with demonic lust. People have lost their health, their marriages, their careers, their family and even their lives with this lust for money. The love for money has caused people to resort to all the wrong coping mechanisms such as alcohol, drugs and even theft – leaving their souls empty of life. Our desire for bigger and better will in the end cost us everything. This is Jesus’ point in the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:16-21. I once read that evangelist John Wesley once said, “Having, first, gain all you can, and secondly, saved all you can, then give all you can.”
Assignment: First, take some time to go through your checkbook or your on-line bank account. Write down where your money goes the most. This shows you where your priorities are. What are yours? Second, then look around at your possessions. How old or new are they? What does this tell you? Third, how much time do you give to either daydreaming about material things or money or pursuing them? Based on 1 Timothy 6:10, what would the Lord say to you in terms of what He has commanded to you in Matthew 6:33?
Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 1:19, “Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, help me to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness. Convict me when I lust after other gods such as money and material things. Open my eyes to see where I love money more than I love You. Help me to be wise with money and to use it for Your kingdom and not to be destroyed by it. I love You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside – Pastor Kelly