The love of money is the root of all evil.
From both personal experience and personal observation, I believe that statement to be true. Many a man or woman in love with money has compromised principle in order to obtain wealth. No doubt you have seen it as well.
There is just one problem with this helpful proverb: We’re quite sure the warning doesn’t apply to us. I mean, we’d never lie, cheat, or steal to gain more money. Therefore, the warning must be for someone else—probably the wealthy.
Herein lies the problem. Nobody ever admits to loving money. Everybody just wants more of it. (tweet that)
In America, if you ask a roomful of people who wants to be rich, almost every hand gets raised. The desire for wealth is almost a forgone conclusion in our society. So much so, in fact, anybody who claims they don’t want more is quickly labeled a madman, a liar, or misinformed.
But I don’t think this assumption concerning our relentless pursuit of money should go unchallenged. It might be a helpful exercise to measure our desires and weigh them against the alternative.
So let me pose a question.
What if the desire for money could be entirely removed from our lives? What riches might stand on the other side? What benefits would we discover?
Allow me to offer seven.
1. Happiness can be discovered. The studies always come out the same. Once our most basic physical needs are met, money adds very little happiness to our lives—even though we always assume it will. Zig Ziglar said it like this, “Money won’t make you happy. But everybody wants to find out for themselves.” Once we remove the desire for money, we are freed to discover happiness has been available to us all along.
2. Security can be found elsewhere. Research from Margaret Clark, a professor of Psychology at Yale, tells us that human beings look for security in two places: possessions and relationships. When one is abundant, the other receives less priority. As we shift the focus of our lives away from the accumulation of more and more money, we may just find that genuine relationships with other people provide far more security and fulfillment than possessions ever can.
3. The negative influence of wealth becomes more apparent. Most of us fear poverty. But very few ever consider the negative consequences of wealth: pride, arrogance, isolation, lack of empathy, and the clouding of moral judgment (just to name a few). Again, we are quick to dismiss the notion that money would ever have that type of influence on us. Because we imagine our life would only be better with more money, we never stop to even consider if that’s true.
4. Work would take on a new focus. If the pursuit of wealth was removed from our affections, we may change our career entirely and choose to do something more fulfilling for 40 hours/week… doesn’t that sound nice? But even if we didn’t change our work assignment, our focus would still change. We may care less about the paycheck and care more about doing a good job for the sake of doing a good job—or maybe for the sake of the person we are serving in our occupation. Work would no longer be selfish, it would become selfless.
5. Generosity could begin today. Generosity benefits the receiver, but it also rewards the giver. Those who are generous with their money and their time take hold of the life that is fully life. They make the world better and their lives fuller. Too often we fall into the thinking if we made more money we would become more generous. But the statistics don’t support that presumption. Generosity is more about priorities than it is about income.
6. Contentment would become attainable. Those who have all they need (food, clothing, shelter) but still constantly desire more, prove their discontent. It is displayed in the items they pursue. I realize that removing the desire for wealth does not necessarily result in contentment, passions can still be directed elsewhere. But it is a great start.
7. Regret is more easily avoided. People who want to get rich fall into a trap that often leads to ruin and regret. They make sacrifices with their time and energy to secure more wealth. They are quick to neglect their family, their health, or their soul. They make small sacrifices every day in order to make more money. But in the end, they will discover they traded the most important for the least. Rejecting an unquenchable desire for more opens up our life to regain focus on the things that truly matter.
This post is not a chastisement of those with money—that would include most of us. And this is also not an argument against hard work, compensation, or earning money.
Instead, this is a post designed to open up a conversation on this blog and in our minds—a conversation about the role of money in our lives. And it is a call to reevaluate our seemingly insatiable desire for more of it.
Great post Joshua. I have been an entrepreneur for twelve years the thirst for more money has been a part of that whole journey. It has been a very recent heart change that has caused me to sell it all and take a job. I will be making half the amount and I couldn’t be more at peace.
Good for you, Zechariah….You made my day….God bless…
Great article, Joshua! I haven’t always been a great steward over my finances but I’m learning. I don’t make much but there are others who make less. I really wonder how they can make it. I’m sure they must be great stewards. Currently, I only spend money paying my bills and getting necessities and I can’t seem to get ahead (and savings is out of the question). I pay my tithes and my bills…after that…there’s nothing left. Barely, can get gas and food. I owe IRS (can’t understand how with the small amount I make, but, yes I owe), have a student loan payment from one semester of college, just replaced my washer & dryer and my car which all gave out around the same time. I live in an apartment because I can’t afford a home. However, I’m grateful because God has supplied all my needs.
Happy Easter everybody!!! So glad Christ loved us enough to make the ultimate sacrifice!!! So glad He is Risen, He’s Alive and He’s coming back again!!!
Love of money is indeed an evil path which leads to no good.
There are so many examples to look at to prove that.
But discarding money or saying you don’t need it not right to me either
You do need money, and een you have met all your needs, give. Give. Increase your giving not your spending. It will purify you and remove your greed. Of you still deel stingy or selfish and greedy. Give again.
i like the idea of saving money and then putting it to work for me. For example, dividend paying equities. That eventually frees up my time for what i want to spend it on.
The Fiat money system in the United States, which is propped up by our outrageous taxation system and fed by all advertising media is a tough nut to crack for anyone who wants to step outside the main stream consumerism box. We have become slaves because we are a debtor nation…as The Scriptures say, “The borrower is servant to the lender.” Even if we totally live off the grid, if we “own” property, that property is still taxed and we still have to have some way to pay that debt. Toss in the fear of the government, which most of us live under, and it is a perfect Catch 22 for Americans.
All that said, living truly “free” means we must live responsibly and independently and fear God rather than man. We must also be willing to risk all to truly live freely…and most of us don’t have the moral stamina of the martyrs to do that.
Does all of this sound harsh and extreme? It isn’t, really. “And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.”
I completely agree with this article.I don’t think nobody doesn’t need money.Its a necessity .It really doesnt matter how much money you have or how much money you earned. It’s the way you spend it and save it.Overspending makes your life miserable ..believe it or not!!!?
What an incredible post. I agree 100% with this. It seems that it isn’t money that is a problem but the constant want of money that causes problems. I found your blog back in March and it has lead me to minimalism. I am so much happier now. I got rid of about 80% of my stuff and I feel like I can finally think clearly. It’s odd how I never read when I owned hundreds of books, but now that I only have forty or so, I read every day. Incredible.
I have to respectfully disagree with this article. “What if the desire for money could be entirely removed from our lives?”.
If tomorrow all the money in the world would disappear in puff of smoke, we, as a race, would not be left any better than we are today. We would still be greedy, aggressive, manipulative, unhappy. Also, we would still be generous, caring, loving and understanding.
I am trying to say that we are flawed, and the search for money is an example of those flaws and if we stopped caring about money we would find something else to fixate on. (Fame for example)
You can a perfect bastard without trying to make more money. For example, you can decide that money is not important in your life, that you will not pursue it as a goal, but also, be self-centered in your relationships with others – for example not taking responsibility for your kids.
My path to minimalism includes not reading every comment on here. ?