Steve Lyston | Money must do good things

1 Timothy 6: 10 says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

There is nothing wrong with money itself. However, it is the love of money - the heart condition and motives behind the money - that is the problem. Money is a defence, it is supposed to do good things, and it is also to be used to create more money to win wars and transform lives for the better. When you have money, you have power and access. Money is even mentioned more than faith and prayer in the Bible - more than 2,000 times. When you have money, you can sit on boards in various organisations and run for political office, and when you speak nonsense, it will make headlines. People outwardly show you respect and treat you a certain way when you have money.

Christians should by no means be afraid to get money, as long as they are getting it legally; because if the kingdom of God is going to be effective in the end-time to transform nations, then we need money to impact lives.

VOW OF POVERTY

Oftentimes, we hear people criticise Christians who have money, or those Christians who talk about money. But contrary to popular belief, there is no vow of poverty in the scriptures. Many have no problem when politicians or drug dons get money - whether legally or illegally ; but as soon as a man of God begins to prosper, they have a problem - even when they get it legally. Money allows us to sit at the tables of influence so as to feed the poor, help by giving people scholarships, help university students who are struggling and cannot pay their school - most of them get locked out of the system.

God allows people to have money, not to sponsor evil. Money is for the purpose of doing good things (Isaiah 49: 50; Deuteronomy 8: 19; Proverbs 22: 16). That is why He allows organisations to make profit. We should not use our money to oppress the poor or give only to our rich friends, or use it to fund murders, rapes and sexual immorality.

Some would prefer to pay a witchdoctor to hurt someone, rather than pay for someone's doctor bill or buy them groceries or give a child lunch money for school. Don't allow money to become your master or your addiction - you should master money!

When man loves money more than God, then it becomes an idol to him, and they would also try to come against someone who is trying to make a living. Everybody must have an equal opportunity and an equal right to make money. So don't use money to put regulations in place to stop someone else from making money. Don't rob anyone of their wages and livelihood (James 5: 4; Jeremiah 22: 13).

Money Should Not Separate

Never allow money to separate you from God or from good friends. Money comes and goes, you never know which way the wind will blow. You may be a billionaire today and a pauper tomorrow.

Always pursue true riches, which are spiritual in nature - righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, patience. Don't allow money to cause you to betray those who trust you, including your leaders. Riches are so transient and the value changes. Earthly riches are only as good as its present value.

Wealthy people should be good stewards. The good we do today will bring eternal dividends. So find someone and begin to help them.

We must stop making decisions based on money only. For example, choosing political candidates either on how wealthy they are or how hungry they are for money.

Greed stops the flow of more money. Giving means we have conquered greed. So the moment our motives are/become right individually/globally, then we will see change individually/globally, and also the reduction of crime, violence and corruption, and people will start seeking to be in political offices - not for the love of money, but for the opportunity to serve their fellow man.

- Steve Lyston is a biblical economics consultant and author of several books, including 'End Time Finance' and 'The New Millionaire'.