Thursday, October 17, 2013

Thoughts on I Timothy 6: Godliness and contentment

In the middle of chapter 6, Paul has an interesting discussion on seeking after wealth.  In brief, Timothy shouldn't pursue wealth and should encourage others to follow his lead.  In this passage comes the famous line, "The love of money is the root of all evils." (By the way, although not a Greek expert, I do think this is the correct translation.  I do not see anything in the original that can be legitimately translated as "all kids of".)  But before this is what I believe is the far more important line, "Now godliness combined with contentment brings great profit."

Ancient Greek philosophers had a term that I think might be beneficial for modern Christians: eudaimonia.  The rough translation is "flourishing", or to put it differently, being the best you that you can be.  The idea is that everything has a purpose and that thing is only as good as it achieves that purpose.

The eudaimonia of the Christian is to serve God.  It isn't to become rich.  It isn't to own a big house.  It isn't to have a lot of stuff.  These things can get in the way of serving God.  Wealth can be used to advance the Kingdom.  This isn't to say that making money is inherently bad.  I have a friend who I think is a model for this.  He owns a highly successful internet business.  He only needs four employees to run the whole thing and he pays them well.  The profits he makes go into growing the business and ministry.  He himself lives in a 900 square foot cabin.  He doesn't splurge on anything, but rather lives simply.  After giving money to ministry, he makes $30,000 per year. (I don't know the details, but he gives away a lot more than that.)  He devotes 20 hours a week to ministry.  This, I believe, is an example of living a life of godliness combined with contentment.  And he flourishes, in the true sense of the term.  He is highly fulfilled with his life, mostly because he is content and feels like he is serving God.

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