It’s misquoted all of the time, “Money is the root of all evil.” It makes me cringe. Money is a lifeless object made out of paper and metal and it doesn’t do a thing evil or good. It just sits until the human factor comes into play. When people cross over into loving it instead of just using it is when things get ugly.

I heard a speaker once say, “Money can’t solve all your problems, but it sure can take the edge off while you’re trying to figure things out.” Sure money can add convenience and creature comforts, but all of us know the filthy rich who are miserable. That’s obviously where the saying, “Money can’t buy happiness” came from. We don’t have to deal with a lot of things that can trip us up unless we choose. Two of the most misused things in American today are food and money. Unfortunately we have to have both of them to live.

Years ago a man was swindled out of what most of us would consider a sizable amount of money by a business partner. Over time I watched as he and his wife grew so bitter it changed their personalities. This was a situation time didn’t help heal the wound because they kept picking the scab off. I watched them withdraw from their friends and become so protected a simple conversation was challenging. The saddest part was the money loss was but a blip on their financial radar. But they refused to give it up and move on. They both died angry and lonely.

When I was in my teens a new accountant discovered something odd on Dad’s balance sheets. After digging through years of paperwork he discovered the office book keeper had been pocketing money for over 10 years. Was Dad mad? Furious. Someone he trusted had betrayed him. He had a choices. He could have prosecuted, but fired her. He could have stewed for years, but learned the importance of accountability and put it behind him. I remember him saying, “We’ve lived just fine the last 10 years without the money I didn’t even know was missing.”

Money does nothing wrong all by itself. There is nothing evil about it. How we use it and how we feel about it is what matters.

1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”