There is nothing wrong with having a job that pays a salary. There is nothing wrong with owning a business. Money is not evil. It is the love of money and things that is the root of all sorts of evil. Why? If our motive is to accumulate or get for self-gratification then we will also do things in an attempt to get more and not lose any in a way that is not ethical or what Christians should be doing. If God blesses us with earnings or gifts or things then we must hold them lightly and focus on Him and His will in how we manage those things.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.
4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your consideration of it.
5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. Proverbs 23:3-5 (NASB)
The god of the natural man is self. Worship of self revolves around self-gratification. This idolatry is enhanced in a consumer driven economy such as in the United States. This consumerism is the fruit of an economic system that is designed to manipulate people into buying things that they would not ordinarily buy. For instance, Christmas has become a commercial holiday that is all about buying gifts and spending money. The holiday was supposed to celebrate the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, however, that meaning has been relegated to the back burner or lost in the shuffle. Now, it is all about buying gifts and receiving gifts. To the retailer, it is a time for making money. No matter from what angle we approach Christmas, it seems that it is all about greed. God’s people are called to be different. Their focus should not be on self at all, but on serving their Lord in obedience and love.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 (NASB)
