From “Growing in the character of a disciple”: Chapter 7 – Some more of the ways in which we must become faithful
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
Proverbs 4:23 (NASB)
For from it flow the springs of life.
And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.
2 Chronicles 12:14 (RSV)
“Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—
Deuteronomy 4:9 (RSV)
Rid yourself of the love of money
One of the main reasons why people act unfaithfully is because they are tempted by the desire for money. The love of money will cause you to do wrong in all sorts of ways:
10 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.
1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)
A man who can rid himself of the love of money will be liberated from all that. He will be free to do whatever is right and cannot be bought or controlled by money. Whatever wages you get, be content with them. Never allow yourself to be induced to do wrong in order to get more money. It is far better to do right, and lose money as a result, than to do wrong in order to keep it. Losing money has only temporary results, but the consequences of doing wrong, or being unfaithful, are eternal. Therefore resolve to change, so that you have no love of money at all:
5Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have;
Hebrews 13:5 (a) (NASB)
Moreover, if you should happen to become rich because God blesses you with abundance, do not set your heart on it or grow to depend on it. We need to be open-hearted so that God can give us wealth, or take it away, without us getting agitated about it. If not, then we will always be open to being tempted to do wrong in order to preserve our wealth, even if we did not do anything wrong to acquire it in the first place. That is an easy trap for wealthy people to fall into. The fear of losing what they have can easily cause them to start to compromise and to sin. It also tends to choke the effect of God’s Word in their lives:
Put no trust in extortion;
Psalm 62:10 (ESV)
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase,
set not your heart on them.
18And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, 19but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Mark 4:18-19 (ESV)
