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Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have…

This is something we have to do: i.e. ”keep” our lives free from money-love and maintain them in contented freedom. We have to be intentional about it.

It is necessary because ‘the world’ is all pervasive. It is all around us; in the very atmosphere we breathe:

”Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 3:15-17.

Someone described ‘the world’ (in its New Testament negative connotation) as ‘society organised without reference to God’, and all the standards, values, ideals, longings, desires, philosophies etc. of that world system are constantly being ‘marketed’ to us. If we do not take definite steps to keep ourselves back from the water’s edge we will likely be overwhelmed by the tide.

One way to keep a contented heart, in a world that is always greedy for more (and telling you that you need more), is to intentionally and specifically, and regularly, give thanks for your blessings.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

 ”Water is useful to the ship and helps it to sail better to the haven, but let the water get into the ship, if it is not pumped out, it drowns the ship. So riches are useful and convenient for our passage. We sail more comfortably with them through the troubles of this world; but if the water gets into the ship, if love of riches gets into the heart, then we are drowned by them.” Thomas Watson.

We are not to imagine that there is necessarily any virtue in poverty or any evil in wealth. What we have to watch out for, and nip in the bud, is an indication of ”the love of money” growing inside of us. 1 Timothy 6:10 says:

” 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.”

The love of money can lead a person deeper and deeper into sin(s): theft, deceit, fraud, murder, arrogance and pride, to name just a few. It is a form of idolatry. Again, Tom Hale expresses this well. He writes about:

‘…money, which first enslaves people and then laughs at them as it fails to provide the happiness it promised. Not that poverty by itself brings happiness, either; let’s not have any romantic notions about that. But the love of money is the thing to beware of. When you love something or someone, you make sacrifices for them. When you find yourself making a sacrifice of something else in your life, simply so that you can follow where money is beckoning you, regard that as a danger signal.’ ‘Hebrews for everyone’, pp.170, 171.

Paul wrote that:

”…godliness with contentment is great gain” 1 Tim.6:6.

Writing to the church in Philippi he also said:

”…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Phil.4:11b-13.

I infer from this that learning to be content is a process, and that times of prosperity do not necessarily lead to contentment. How we need God’s strength to live as we should in whatever circumstance of life we find ourselves.

The call to contentment, in a life free of the love of money, is based upon God’s Word. Whatever He commands, He also enables. Thanks be to God.

Honour marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex. The Message.

Here is a further comment on this verse from Tom Wright, a former Bishop of Durham:

‘Then come two rules of thumb about the perennial storm centres, sex and money. Marriage is to be respected and honoured by all, and nobody must try to break into the sexual union of husband and wife. The pagan world of the first century was every bit as sexually promiscuous as the Western world of the twenty-first century, and Christians are called today, as they were then, to stand out, to be deeply counter-cultural, at this point. The writer warns that God will judge those who flout his intention for the gift of sex, using it as a plaything rather than the deep, rich, satisfying bond between husband and wife that it was meant to be. This judgment will not necessarily be confined to the life to come. In fact, as thousands of novels, plays and poems bear witness, it is all too frequent that those who degrade themselves and other people by indulging in sex outside its proper context carry bitter regrets and long-lasting emotional scars.’