Money is a Tool

Is money evil? or is it just me?

You may have heard it said that “Money is the root of all evil.” But did you know that phrase is wrong?

What the Bible (which this phrase is based on) actually says “…the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Tim 6:10 NIV, emphasis added) Paul finishes the verse by explaining that “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

But wait a minute! Aren’t we supposed to hate money and wealth as Christians? Well, if that’s the case, why did Christ himself say so much about using money? Look up Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 13:44, Mark 12:41-44, Luke 3:14, Luke 14:28, and Luke 16:13-15.

Feeling confused yet? Let’s look for some clarity from the world of…oh, I don’t know…how about comic books? Lex Luthor: Superman villain, uber successful business man, one of the richest people in the DC Universe and also one of the most evil! There you go. Money=bad. BUT there’s also Bruce Wayne: uber successful business man, one of the richest people in the DC Universe and also one of the most heroic as the caped crusader Batman. So money=good…?

Ok, let’s try a real-world example: hammers.  Carpenters and tradesmen and weekend warriors all use hammers to build new things. In the process many of them also hurt their hands. Should we stop using hammers because they hurt hands? Or should we learn how to better use hammers so they don’t hurt our hands? But hammers are also used to destroy! A racist may take a hammer and destroy the windows of a synagogue or mosque or ethnic church. So is the hammer evil?

Money is a tool, just like a hammer. We are reminded by the prophet Jeremiah that

In the classic prayer hymn “Come Thou Fount” we sing how we are “Prone to wander/Lord, I feel it/Prone to leave the God I love.” It’s just like we talked about in our Idol series a few months ago, that when a good thing becomes an ultimate thing we go astray. For the next four weeks we are going to look into how to use money, not be used by money. If money is a tool, let’s learn how to use it wisely so that we can build up and not destroy.

To open the series, let’s pray and reflect on these two verses:

Ecclesiastes 5:10

Proverbs 21:20