by Ds. Baltazar A. Niangar, Pastor Emeritus, Th.B., A.B., D.D.
“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” — 1 Timothy 6:17
Every pastor eventually meets the same collision: a man who built a prosperous business and lost his soul in the building; a widow who gives her last coins and finds herself full of peace. Money is never a peripheral concern in Scripture. It is a matter of the heart. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matt. 6:21).
Money Is a Gift Before It Is a Danger
Before any warning can be rightly heard, the gift must first be rightly received. Paul doesn’t start by condemning wealth — he starts by grounding it in the character of God, who “richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” God made both the rich and the poor (Prov. 22:2). Prosperity is not proof of virtue, and poverty is not proof of God’s disfavor. The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it (Ps. 24:1) — every good gift begins with Him.
That gift comes with a purpose: to seek first His kingdom, to hold what we have loosely for the sake of our neighbor, and to let our financial lives be an honest advertisement of who God is.
The Peril: When Money Turns the Heart Away
The same gift can become a snare. Paul’s warning is one of the strongest in his letters: “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Tim. 6:10). Notice what he doesn’t say — he doesn’t say money is evil, or that the rich are damned. The danger is in the love of it, the quiet way it can crowd God out of the seat only He should occupy.
Three particular perils show up again and again: pride (trusting riches instead of God), greed (loving money more than God), and corruption (compromising integrity to get more of it). None of these announce themselves loudly. They settle in by degrees.
“No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and money.” — Matthew 6:24
The Promise: When Money Turns the Heart Toward God
Here is the good news: the very same money that can ruin a heart can also become the instrument by which that heart is turned toward God. Paul’s counsel to the rich isn’t poverty — it’s to become “rich in good works, generous and ready to share” (1 Tim. 6:18). That is heavenly capital, an investment that can’t be confiscated or lost.
This looks like three things in a life: humble dependence on God rather than on your bank balance, faithful stewardship of what you’ve been given, and honesty in every financial dealing, public and private. The widow who gave her last two coins (Luke 21:1–4) had discovered what the world cannot understand — the person who has nothing but God has everything.
The Question Underneath It All
Money, riches, and wealth are morally neutral in themselves. They take their character entirely from the heart that holds them. So the real question isn’t “are you rich or poor by the world’s reckoning?” It’s simpler and harder than that: are you rich toward God?
Soli Deo gloria.
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The Biblical Teaching on Money, Riches and Wealth
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