Monetising All That is Sinful.

 


In the world outside the church of Christ the following verse is possibly the most often misquoted verse of scripture and that is where Paul writes in chapter six of his first letter to Timothy the following words:

‘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.’

What we usually hear quoted is that ‘money is the root of all evil.’ This has really been something I have been reminded of the past few weeks and what really moved me to write this was something I saw in a shop the other day. As I write this we are coming to the end of the August of 2022 and what I saw was a display for Halloween related gifts with the words ‘Happy Halloween.’ Not only is it well over two months away, but also how on earth can you use the word ‘Happy’ in conjunction with what is a satanic festival. If you are one of those people who are going to say that it is a harmless bit of fun for children and that it was a church festival too – all I would say is that you have been duped and to go and do your research as it is anything but harmless!

I appreciate full well that the sole purpose of any company is to make money for its proprietor/shareholders, and this is just one of many examples where a business in their pursuit of one more penny throw out all that is good, wholesome and above all else pleasing to God in that pursuit. It’s not just Halloween, there are many other forms of immorality being monetised, whilst in turn the standards and ways of God are openly mocked and derided.

Going back to the verse written by Paul, he both clearly states what such an impure love of money leads to, but also warns of the consequence of pursuing money instead of seeking after God and His righteousness. I know personally of falling into what can be a quite harmless looking trap when I took a promotion that I thought would help to provide better for my wife and home. How wrong I was, as it wasn’t long until I was consumed by the stresses of the job which left me a virtual shell of a man. From that point on I had to rebuild my relationship with God, and it has been a long and painful road at times.

I would therefore urge every one of us not only to be on our guard against those who like the money changers that Jesus cast out of the temple for their ungodly practices, but above all to take on board and live out what Jesus said about seeking God’s Kingdom and storing up treasures in Heaven that can be found in Matthew 6.


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