Money – The Presidential Prayer Team

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have. – Hebrews 13:5

The Bible is often misquoted as saying, “Money is the root of all evil.” However, the apostle Paul said, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10). Anyone or anything can be an idol. Loving money, or the things it can buy, above loving God is idolatry. Money is a useful tool over which His people are supposed to be good stewards.

Money in the hands of one submitted to God can accomplish the good things that the Bible commands, such as feeding the poor and promoting the gospel, as well as meeting your family’s personal needs. God gives money to those who will use it wisely for His glory. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38). He also said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Whether you have a little or a lot of money, find your contentment in God.

Jesus told one who sought Him, “Sell what you possess and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21). One way to look at this verse is through the lens of owning and operating a business. What goods or skills do you have that you can sell? Just like God gave Joseph wisdom to provide for Egypt and the surrounding area, pray that the Lord will help Christian business people of the United States glorify Him as they support the country’s economy. Ask God to give wisdom to the elected officials to use taxes according to the Constitution, in ways that honor the Lord.

Today’s Verse: Hebrews 13:5

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Matthew 6:19-34

¹⁹“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²²“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.