Silas
Beloved of All
Your heartfelt prayer reflects exactly what Jesus taught when He warned to watch out for greed in every form, and what Scripture shows as the true remedy.
Money itself is not evil. It is neutral. What Scripture calls the root of all kinds of evil is the love of money. That love, that greed, is what corrupts. It is behind so much of the brokenness in the world, behind wars and strife and jealousy, behind the drug trade and impurity and exploitation. When the heart begins to love money, people wander from faith and pierce themselves with many sorrows. Some have no capacity to handle riches and are destroyed by craving them, and the craving can be even stronger in those who have little than in those who have much. That is why the call is to flee that love.
The antidote you prayed for is the right one, to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. That kind of love is not the physical or merely emotional love that seeks to get, but the spiritual, self giving love that seeks to give. It cannot be bought. People try to purchase love, and a counterfeit can be bought, but true love never can. The love of Christ for us is of that true kind, so deep and rich and intense that it passes understanding, and when His love is poured into our hearts it constrains us and changes our desires. The real evidence that God is at work in us is not outward display, but this fruit of love within us, a love for God and for one another that grows as we walk with Him.
When that love for God fills the heart, it naturally overflows to our neighbors, just as you prayed. The goal of instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. To walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us is the opposite of covetousness. Covetousness is self love at its core, and self love and love of money and love of pleasure are what give birth to so many other evils. Love of God displaces them.
Your prayer from Proverbs is wise and biblical, to ask the Lord to keep falsehood far away and to give neither poverty nor riches but only what is sufficient, and not to set the heart on riches if they increase. Scripture reminds us that riches are uncertain and the earth and all who dwell in it belong to the Lord. Godliness with contentment is itself great gain and true wealth. To not love the world or the things in the world, to not covet what belongs to another, and to not let the desire for other things choke the Word and make it unfruitful, all of that is keeping the heart pure so the love of the Father can remain.
So continue to flee the love of money and pursue what God values instead, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness. Keep asking the Lord to keep you from temptation and to guard you from sin and from the deceit of the evil one who blinds hearts and minds, and to keep your love for Him fervent. May He keep you humble, help you be rich in good deeds, and let His love in you be perfected and overflow to those around you, that others may see Christ in you.
I join you in thanking God that He hears prayer through Jesus, and I pray He will give you contentment, a pure heart, and a deepening knowledge of the height and depth of Christ's love for you as you love Him and love your neighbor in return.
Money itself is not evil. It is neutral. What Scripture calls the root of all kinds of evil is the love of money. That love, that greed, is what corrupts. It is behind so much of the brokenness in the world, behind wars and strife and jealousy, behind the drug trade and impurity and exploitation. When the heart begins to love money, people wander from faith and pierce themselves with many sorrows. Some have no capacity to handle riches and are destroyed by craving them, and the craving can be even stronger in those who have little than in those who have much. That is why the call is to flee that love.
The antidote you prayed for is the right one, to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. That kind of love is not the physical or merely emotional love that seeks to get, but the spiritual, self giving love that seeks to give. It cannot be bought. People try to purchase love, and a counterfeit can be bought, but true love never can. The love of Christ for us is of that true kind, so deep and rich and intense that it passes understanding, and when His love is poured into our hearts it constrains us and changes our desires. The real evidence that God is at work in us is not outward display, but this fruit of love within us, a love for God and for one another that grows as we walk with Him.
When that love for God fills the heart, it naturally overflows to our neighbors, just as you prayed. The goal of instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. To walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us is the opposite of covetousness. Covetousness is self love at its core, and self love and love of money and love of pleasure are what give birth to so many other evils. Love of God displaces them.
Your prayer from Proverbs is wise and biblical, to ask the Lord to keep falsehood far away and to give neither poverty nor riches but only what is sufficient, and not to set the heart on riches if they increase. Scripture reminds us that riches are uncertain and the earth and all who dwell in it belong to the Lord. Godliness with contentment is itself great gain and true wealth. To not love the world or the things in the world, to not covet what belongs to another, and to not let the desire for other things choke the Word and make it unfruitful, all of that is keeping the heart pure so the love of the Father can remain.
So continue to flee the love of money and pursue what God values instead, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness. Keep asking the Lord to keep you from temptation and to guard you from sin and from the deceit of the evil one who blinds hearts and minds, and to keep your love for Him fervent. May He keep you humble, help you be rich in good deeds, and let His love in you be perfected and overflow to those around you, that others may see Christ in you.
I join you in thanking God that He hears prayer through Jesus, and I pray He will give you contentment, a pure heart, and a deepening knowledge of the height and depth of Christ's love for you as you love Him and love your neighbor in return.
