But
godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take
nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with
that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a
trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into
ruin and destruction. 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. (I Timothy 6:6-10)
Today’s passage
contains a favorite but misquoted verse. People think it says “the love of
money is the root of all evil.” They
quickly move from there to the conclusion that rich people are evil since they
“must” love money. The problem, of course, is that all evil is not the result of
money. Sometimes, evil comes about as the result of the “love” of power, of
another person, of a philosophy, ideal, nation, group, self… In short, evil is
the result of the love of the wrong things, or of anything in the wrong way – even God.
In Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis suggests that even those who claim to
not want much, just that the things they do want be “just so,” are included here.
What this
passage is saying is that desire is a trap. Those who are not careful can end
up with trouble. Quite simply, what we desire can become our god.
The other word
that I need to address is “contentment.” It means to be filled with satisfaction
or happiness. I’m going to shorten that to say it means being full. Sometimes,
I think I have contentment more than I realize. Other times, I think that I am
more often either “hungry” for something or stuffed full to overflowing and therefore
overwhelmed. This weekend if more of an overwhelmed weekend. I’m writing this
on Friday because Saturday when I’d normally be writing it, I’ll be outside
trying to sell boxes and boxes of stuff that either belonged to the person who
lived here before me or my stuff because I’m keeping hers instead. I have writing
project that has to be done in the next five days. I’m overwhelmed.
At the same
time, as I sit here, thinking about things I’ve done this winter, I’m content,
especially when I notice things I’ve made.
When I turn my
gaze inward, I have that same combination of overwhelmed and content. There are
so many ways in which I fail. There’s so much work to do in my life, but at the
same time, I’ve been praying “the Lord’s prayer” for myself a lot recently. “Thy
will be done in my mind (thoughts), my heart (will), my bowels (feelings),
body, relationship, and deeds as it is in Heaven…” And if I’ve learned anything
in the past thirty-some years, it’s that He will make sure I get off at the
right road or exit. Right now, at least, I’m not panicking.
How does one
achieve this? I don’t really know. I’m more used to the overwhelmed or empty
feeling. One thing I can tell you – it’s not a function of how much stuff one
has. I’d like to be spiritual and say “It’s how much God one has” or – perhaps more
correctly, “How much God has one.” But, while I suspect that’s true, I don’t
know that I can say it from experience or knowledge. I’m not sure I can hold
onto the contentment when things spin out of control and I don’t get my way,
and that’s part of the equation, too. I suspect that it is one of those things
that is a work in progress in the life of every person.
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