Nobody admits this.  Last of all, me.  But the other day, I came across an article discussing the translation of 1 Tim. 6:10.  It’s that funny verse that in the King James, tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil.  But nobody could make any sense of that, because what does the love of money have to do with somebody yelling at their neighbor or committing adultery?  So newer translations say “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”

But somebody turned on the light for me.  He gave the literal translation from the Greek:  ”For [a] root of all the evils is the money-love.”  He talked about the difference between sin and evil.  He defined evil in broader terms, as in systems of widespread corruption that leads to destruction.  Then he pointed out that systemic evil is almost always rooted in the love of money, for example:  prostitution, drug-trade, corrupt politics, even oppressive taxation, and economies based on usury (like ours).

So, for example, love of money is probably not the sin that causes a woman to walk into an abortion clinic, but it is without a doubt the chief reason the evil clinic exists for her to walk into.  And it may not be that love of money is the sin that drove the addict to pawn his wife’s earrings, but it is the reason the pawn shop is conveniently located in the addict’s neighborhood.

Okay, so why am I struck by this fine theological point, other than our general McDowell nerdiness? Here’s why:

One of the principles of breakthrough the Lord taught us during during our years of training was men’s need for God to bring external pressure on our souls to break us through into revelation.  In other words, people don’t naturally want to change or be conformed to the image of Christ.  We are “right in [our] own eyes.” (Prov. 21:2) So in His grace, God would bring pressure in the natural that would parallel the revelation in the spiritual, so we would be willing to change.

Note:  This sounds complicated.  It’s not.  It’s called correction.  All believers’ lives are full of it, as God is a good father, but many of us do not realize it as such, and waste our golden trials on complaining and arguing like rebellious children.

So speak of pressure:  here we have the need for funds to pursue the harvest, starting just with our family’s needs.  There are a bunch of people jumping off this cliff at the same time as we are, and it is a certain kind of pressure that if you’ve never experienced…well, let’s just say it’s a gold mine for revelation!

And I feel the Lord’s been showing me, gently, “You love money.  You are from a people that loves money (perhaps more than any people that’s existed in history on the earth).  You are so steeped in this, you can’t imagine life, ministry, or perspective apart from it.  And you’re blind to the extent of EVIL that’s grown up solidly around your love of money in America.  Most will stay blind until the evil devours them.”  Pretty heavy stuff.

So here we sit…having sold our house (btw, if you didn’t know, when a Gen Y-er says they sold their house, ask them how much that cost ‘em.  We had a to bring a check for 9K.), our cars, much of our earthly goods several times, having given up or sold several profitable businesses, having exchanged the capital of our abilities and educations for nothing on the market but believing for eternal fruit…all of this ON PURPOSE for ministry and the kingdom…how is it that we could be said to love money?  Where have we been blinded?

I’ll get into that in the next post.  How does this break down?  Where is it in our life, and could it be in yours?  In the meantime, look for a recording of OJ teaching on what a disciple of Christ is.  SHAZAM!  All I can say is, wow.  I’m so glad he’s mine.  :)

All God’s best to you!