Thoughts From 1 Timothy - Day 19

 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.  1Timothy 6:6-10

          I recently read that the reason so many people are unhappy at work is because they chose a vocation based on how much money they would make rather than what their passion is. Many times your passion will meet your financial needs but not a whole lot of excess. This is particularly true in the case of going into the ministry like Paul and Timothy. Is our passion bringing as many people as we can to saving knowledge of Christ? If it is, then once we have our basic needs met, the remainder of our resources should go into ministries that are advancing the kingdom.

     Why do we put all our effort into accumulating wealth rather than giving it away? The older I get, the more inheritance fights I see. Better to leave nothing. As I work part time in semi retirement, 10 days a month, 6 hours from home when my financial planner says we have enough saved to meet our needs the rest of our lives, I've got to make sure that the main reason I am here is to represent Christ to a whole new audience. If my primary focus is to make money to spend on pleasure, Paul would say, like the widow in chapter 5, I'm dead while I'm living. I'm like the dead vine or tree that stopped bearing fruit. I might as well be done here on Earth. And this is the danger of money - it gets you living for the wrong kingdom.

        Isn't it interesting this common theme in 1 Timothy - What kingdom are you living for? Are you storing up treasure on Earth or treasure in Heaven?