The Trap of Money

"But godliness with contentment is great gain.

For we brought nothing into the world,

and we can take nothing out of it.

But if we have food and clothing,

we will be content with that.

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap 

and into many foolish and harmful desires

that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Some people, eager for money,

have wandered from the faith

and pierced themselves with many griefs."

1 Timothy 6:6-10

Money means nothing to God: It is a man-made means of doing business.  Even though God can use money as a tool, in and of itself it holds no value.  Contentment, however, is of great worth to God.  When my focus is to attain godly traits, my desire for the material and the risks associated therein will pass away.

It is not money that is evil, however.  It is the love of it that leads to a deadly trap.  Sometimes this devotion for the mighty dollar comes in surprising forms, like a simple desire to gain financial independence.  Whatever the lure, the result is the same: if money holds a higher place than God, or takes His place in any way, it is a problem.  In order to guard my heart against corruption, I will need to be aware of the traps of money.

Needs

"You know what you need?"  A friend of mine used to preface her endorsement of the latest and greatest gadget with this question.  As she described its features and showed me pictures of all the good that came out of it, it wasn't long before I was scrambling for my wallet, ready to head to the store.  Her enthusiasm would rub off on me, and soon I was convinced my kitchen/yard/car was not complete without this product.

It's amazing how little I actually need to survive.  Sometimes I convince myself that I need certain items like socks without holes or meat at every meal, but the reality is that I can get by on much less than I realize.

God promises to provide me everything I need out of His glorious riches. (Philippians 4:19)  The problem, though, lies in a difference of perspective: His definition of "need" is drastically different than mine.  When I begin to lose satisfaction with what God has provided, then my eye begins to wander over to the other side of the fence where there is an abundance of goodies.  In order to take hold of the things I suddenly find necessary, I need money.  

Sometimes, the income I have is more than enough, sometimes it's not.  When I spend on what I want instead of being happy with what I have, am I not using money as a means to satisfy my fleshly desires?  Money then transforms itself from a tool God uses to provide for my needs and becomes a temptation to lure me away from contentment.

Money becomes a trap when I use it to keep my heart in a state of discontent.

Motive

My dog is driven by his stomach.  I can get him to perform almost any trick I can think of as long as there is a treat involved.  It is even possible to steal his attention away from the enticing squirrel that he so longs to chase by offering a tempting tidbit of food as a distraction.

Money can be a strong motivator for me, as well.  I think that if I tithe regularly, I will reap the blessing of an increase in my income, so I make sure to write that check every month.  

I'm also inspired to do my best at work so that I can garner that hefty pay-raise that comes with a promotion.  I'm not so interested in only doing my best for the Lord, but want to get a little something out of it for myself.

I can be driven to thriftiness to the point of absurdity, hoping to save a buck or two anytime I can.  Unfortunately, I sometimes am so rigid in my thinking that I fail to sense God's leading to bless another by giving a generous tip or to hire out a job I could do myself.  The money God has given me is to be used in a way to glorify Him, and sometimes that means liberally "wasting it" by benefiting another.

Money becomes a trap when it motivates me to act in a way that goes against God's leading.

Idol

Every time I had a spare moment, my mind would start calculating how long it would be before all our debt was paid off.  My husband and I had decided to make the effort to pay off our credit cards so that we could live more freely, without being in bondage to our debtors.  It was exciting to see the balances drop every month.  Before I knew it, it had become a game for me; I took it as a challenge to see how much I could pay off before the end of the year.  To be honest, I was obsessed.

Instead of thinking about God and His Word in my down time or while performing menial tasks, I was thinking about money.  It doesn't matter that I was doing a good, biblical thing in paying off our debts.  What was important was the inclination of my heart and the truth was that my mind was consumed with this project.  Money had become an idol to me.

It wasn't so much the money, but what it could do for me that had me hooked.  It became a distraction from what was really important and I began to drift away from the Lord.  I still studied His Word, prayed, went to church and met with other believers, but my heart was not fully with Him.  I was cheating on Him in my devotion to Him and Him alone.

There are other ways money can take the place of God in my life.   Sometimes I believe money can save me; if I have enough money in the bank I will be secure in times of trouble.  The truth is that God is my only salvation, and He could take away that safety net any time He wants in order to get my attention back to Him as my protector and provider.  I can even spend so much time trying to figure out how I'm going to pay the bills that I don't leave the problem in my Father's hands, once again letting money (or the lack thereof) take His place.

Money becomes a trap when it distracts me from wholly focusing on Jesus.

Money has always been a stumbling block for me; not because I've been wealthy, but in my attitude regarding it.  Instead of trusting God as sovereign over all things, I acted as if He has no control when it comes to finances.  It is my heartfelt desire to surrender my needs to Him so I will live in contentment, to hold Him and His glory as my sole motivation for what I do, and to strive to give Him the highest place on my list of priorities.  In this way I will avoid the trap of money that is capable of leading me into much evil.  Instead, I want to take on the attitude of my Father and realize that money in itself holds no worth:  It is only God in whom I can place all my confidence.

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can keep the Lord on the throne of my life.

When do I put more confidence in money than I should?

How is money an idol in my life?