BY GREG CRUM

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22

“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” I Timothy 6:9-10

Here in Proverbs 10 and I Timothy 6, we see the extremities of material riches. On one end, the blessing from the Lord with no sorrow in the equation. On the other, sorrows multiplied! What’s the difference? Riches are riches, gold is gold, houses are houses, cars are cars, right? What causes one to bring sorrow and the other just blessing? Is it chance? The luck of the draw? A whim of the Divine? Nope! As always, the answer is right there in the Word!

Take another look at I Timothy 6:9. There it states that “they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare.” The verb “will be” is key, and shouldn’t be understood in this context as “they that are” or “they that are going to be,” but rather should be understood as “they that want to be” or “those whose desire it is to be.” The word “will” here denotes want, passion, and motivation, and that’s the pivot point that changes material possession from blessing to curse.

 Now, some Christians would protest that sorrows are just the trade-off for wealth, or that all wealth is bad and corrupts. It’s a common cop out used by those who have less than they desire, and feel that there’s no hope for them to ever have any more than they do right now. That’s where we need to be honest with ourselves and take lesson from the Scriptures.

Proverbs 10:22 lets us know that there is a way to have “riches” and it be a blessing and not sorrow, right? But again, to this those same people might say, “That’s just talking about spiritual blessing. The Lord doesn’t make people rich in material things. That’s why there’s sorrow attached to material things.” Again, that’s where we need to take counsel from the Lord. Genesis 13:2 and 14:22-23 reveals that Abraham was very rich in material things, and he attributed his material wealth to God’s explicit provision. The record is clear, at least in Abraham’s case, God was the one who made him rich.

So, God can and does make people wealthy, in a variety of ways, and when He does it, there is no sorrow added. With that said, where then does the sorrow attached with some believers’ wealth come from? Cue I Timothy 6 again. We’re back to the key word “want.” Those whose focus, heart, and desire it is to be rich will face sorrow after sorrow. Their motives are wrong. Their will pushes them for more and more resources so they can grow and heap and increase for their own agenda. Sounds like James 4:1-3, right? They want things to consume it upon their own lusts.

When our motivation for wealth is for our consumption, we will never be able to be as rich as God desires us to be, and frankly, that’s most people’s motivation for wealth, isn’t it? It’s so they can have and enjoy more for themselves. Have we forgotten Jesus’ warning about these things? According to Luke 12:13-21, we can’t allow ourselves to be covetous, we must endeavor to be rich the Godly way and for Godly purposes.

Friends, the more we are motivated to gain wealth the way God desires, the greater our provision will become. How does God use wealth? The answer to this question must become our “will” concerning the desire for material things. We must shape our will to His mold, and when we do, we’ll have more than enough, and much more to go around for every good work. (II Corinthians 9:8)

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.