William MacDonald on The Love of Money

    Covetousness denies the real purpose of our existence. it forgets that we are here for bigger business than to make money or to indulge ourselves. It forgets that the best use of our money is for spiritual purposes. It is deceptive. Said J. H. Jowett,

     Riches can make a man think that he is growing bigger when all the time he is growing less. He estimates his size by the inlet of income and not by the outlet of beneficence. While the inlet is expanding, the outlet is contracting.

     It is irrational. We strive to get things we don't need to impress people we don't like.

    It frustrates God's plan for world evangelization by hoarding money that could be used in the propagation of the gospel.

     It unfits a man for leadership in the church - and elder must be "not greedy for money" (1 Tim. 3:3) -- but, worse than that, it excludes a man from the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10).

     Here in our passage Paul warns Timothy that the desire to be rich leads to temptation. A covetous man will resort to illegal means to get what he wants. And it leads to a trap. It is like holding a live wire; he can't let go. Or like drinking salt water; it creates the thirst for more.

     A man said to his friend, "When I had $50,000 I was happy. Now I have a million and I'm miserable."

     "That's no problem," said the friend, "give away $950,000."

     The millionaire whined, "I can't."

     The desire to be rich leads to "many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." This is strong language. Paul warns that covetousness leads to eternal ruin. How strange, then, that Christians should speak approvingly of that which God condemns unsparingly!

     The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. For example, it is the root of lies. J. H. Jowett told of asking help of a wealthy man in New York for an exceedingly worthy cause.

     His face immediately answered my appeal, and he spoke as one who was on the verge of poverty: "I really cannot give any more. What with one thing and another I do not know what we are coming to!"  A few weeks later he died, and his will amounted to over 60 million! And I wonder, I wonder if at the end of the day he heard the messenger of the Lord saying to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall these things be?"

from The Disciple's Manual, pages 76-77