Thread: Riches

1 Tim 6:8-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Okay, but what if God simply blesses me with riches and now I'm rich without having tried to get rich, what then ?

Mark 4:18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

The Greek lexicon confirms the NKJV translation as "the deceitfulness of riches" which chokes the word so that it becomes unfruitful. What do you think that means, "the deceitfulness of riches" ?

One deceit of riches is that it can give you a false sense of security. If all your material needs are met and you're satisfied in the flesh, you may be reluctant to turn to the things of the spirit. You may start out all right, but through the deceit of riches, you soon discover your heart has become attached to them.

Originally Posted by Colonel

1 Tim 6:8-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Okay, but what if God simply blesses me with riches and now I'm rich without having tried to get rich, what then ?

Mark 4:18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

The Greek lexicon confirms the NKJV translation as "the deceitfulness of riches" which chokes the word so that it becomes unfruitful. What do you think that means, "the deceitfulness of riches" ?

I think the key word is DESIRE. That's what you live for, that's your goal in life, your focus, etc. Money is basically your god. If He blesses you with it then He does. That and that verse aren't connect. God isn't against us having riches, He's against riches having us and mammon being our God. Many of the OT patriarchs were rich and even the wealthiest men of their day. God even told them how to have wealth.

I agree with Bookie on one of the deceitfulness of riches being 'a false sense of security'. Money becomes our god in that it becomes our security instead of our security being in God and having our faith placed in Him rather than our finances. Another deceit would be thinking riches could actually get us into heaven, that it's a measure of our spirituality.

Romans 5:2 says that we have access into God's grace (which encompasses all He has done for us in Christ) through faith. God's supply is unlimited. So what we can receive from God is only limited by our faith. We're all extremely wealthy in that sense.

The love of money being a root of all kinds of evil relates to getting it but also to having it, then. I've noticed that the early Pentecostals were big on relying on God for a good money flow for all good works but not big on amassing the riches. Some would say that they didn't understand prosperity theology properly but maybe what they did understand was that riches are given to us to be employed rather than hoarded or spent on own desires (the cares of this world, the desire for other things) ?
I know Abraham was very rich and didn't necessarily give that much but the OT doesn't promote the same way of thinking in relation to promoting the gospel and being a giver and his riches function as a picture of the spiritual wealth that those who follow God attain now that we have been given the Spirit of God. So we should be careful with interpreting the material wealth of Abraham, Job, David and Solomon too literally in terms of the new covenant.

Another point to make in this is that one doesn't have to have riches to have the love of money in their heart. Plenty of poor people don't have it, but it's still in their heart. At the same time, those that have riches aren't necessarily lovers of money. It's a heart issue, not what one actually possesses.

Jesus challenged many rich to give it all away....not saying all rich believers should give everything away but would they genuinely be willing if asked by God

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

Jesus challenged many rich to give it all away....not saying all rich believers should give everything away but would they genuinely be willing if asked by God

A sense of being in the plan of God should make a huge difference. Just giving everything away can amount to dead works. John G. Lake was rich but gave everything away, probably thinking it was the Pentecostal thing to do. Probably cost him his wife as she died from starvation and exhaustion in South Africa and possibly his own life later, during the great depression in the 1930s. He should have kept some assets for times of great need.

Originally Posted by fuego

Another point to make in this is that one doesn't have to have riches to have the love of money in their heart. Plenty of poor people don't have it, but it's still in their heart. At the same time, those that have riches aren't necessarily lovers of money. It's a heart issue, not what one actually possesses.

If I hoard millions of dollars and employ it for no good can I be said to not have the love of money ?

Originally Posted by Colonel

If I hoard millions of dollars and employ it for no good can I be said to not have the love of money ?

If you read what I said cleary, then you would know your scenario is money having you, not you having the money. That definitely sound like the love of money. That's basically what the man whose soul was required of him did.