What does the Bible say about money?

Verse 9 does not speak of those that are rich, as does verse 17, but of those who "desire to be rich" — that is, they set it before them as the object to be pursued... This is so whether they succeed in their aim and amass wealth or whether they do not, for it is the coveting of money that turns men aside from the faith and pierces them through with sorrows, and not the acquisition and misuse of it only. The love of money is declared to be the root of every kind of evil. It is not that every bit of evil in the world can be traced to the love of money, but that the love of money is a root from which on various occasions every description of evil springs.

What does such a desire betray? Discontent with the calling in which one is called; distrust of God's will, goodness, and wisdom in His dealings with each; the same unbroken, unjudged thirst for the things the Gentiles seek. Does not our heavenly Father know what we have need of, and what He deems fitting for us?

With a man warm in his feelings everything is apt to be extreme. The other case supposes a person of feeble character. But in one way or another, whatever the character, to attempt this double service is fatal. "You cannot serve God and money." Sadly, money is the real worldwide idol; it is the object of the widest homage — not only in the world, but, grievous to add, in Christendom.

You will observe that our blessed Lord is setting forth in this passage the moral characteristics of earth and heaven. There is no such thing as moth, or rust, or thief in heaven. On earth there is. May we set our affections on things above.

Well then does the apostle first warn against being high-minded, and next against building one's hopes on the stability of what so quickly takes wings and flies away, from which the owner is so often summoned in the middle of his self-aggrandizing plans. "Uncertainty of riches" indeed: how true and expressive!

Instead of reaching out after what you do not have, and having your spirit filled with discontent, remember the One who has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

The principle to act on is this: what nature calls my own is not my own, but God's. The best use to make of it is, treating it as His, to be as generous as possible, looking ahead to the future. It is easy to be generous with another's goods... Do not count them your own, but look at and treat them as God's. Be as generous as you please: He will not take it amiss.

Giving must spring from the right source, it must draw its motive force from a worthy direction. What that direction is the apostle indicates in 2 Corinthians 8:9, saying: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich."

If our hearts are right, and enlarged by dwelling in the love of God, we shall give not only generously but cheerfully also. We shall give in the style of God Himself; and God loves those who are like Himself.

He adds, as if he could not remember the poor enough, "to be generous in distributing, ready to share," which, I take it, goes beyond cases of pressing need, to calls that arise which are especially suited to people of ample means, as in the varied circumstances of the Lord's work and witness. How many opportunities there are of promoting His glory which are not the kind one would want to lay as a burden on the assembly as a whole!