Almost everything that we buy today comes with a warning on it; whether it is something electronic, or mechanical, or even a child’s toy. But the most dangerous thing in the world doesn’t carry any warning. It is the dollar (or whatever currency we use). Paul says that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and if he had his way it would come with a government health warning. Notice what Paul says should be written on every note of currency.
 
“I am a great temptress”
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation…” (1 Tim. 6:9). Some temptations come so obviously; but financial ones come so stealthily, so beautifully dressed, so innocently, so excusably. If only we could see behind them: I am a temptress, I am a seductress.

“I trap”
“Those who desire to be rich fall into…a snare” (v. 9). If we knew that we were about to walk through a forest in which hunters had set traps and snares everywhere, how carefully, how slowly, how gently, how gingerly we would go. Paul warns that the love of money puts traps everywhere; traps that can grab us, damage us, and injure us. Yet how thoughtlessly and carelessly we walk!

“I fool”
He says it leads into many “foolish lusts” (v. 9). “Foolish” here means irrational and illogical. He is saying, “If only people could see how irrational and illogical this love for money is. It looks reasonable, it looks logical, it looks normal. But, no! It’s irrational; it’s illogical if only you could see what it is doing to you.

“I injure”
Paul does not only speak of foolish lusts but also “harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (v. 9). He says, “You think that this money is raising you up, promoting you, and making you big and high. No! If only you can see it’s drowning you, it’s taking you down, it’s suffocating you, it’s sucking the oxygen out of your life and you are slowly dying.”

“I can make you an unbeliever”
Paul mourns that because of the love of money, some have “strayed from the faith in their greediness” (v. 10). The dollar has turned more people into unbelievers than any false religion.
 
“I impale”
Due to the love of money some have “pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (v. 10). It’s a picture of someone crucifying themselves. Every ill-gotten dollar, though it is thought to bring comfort, pleasure, and happiness, is actually turned into a sharp and painful knife. Talk about self-harm!

Imagine if the dollar said all these things before we wanted it, before we got it, and as we thought about how were going to spend it. It would cry out, “I tempt, I trap, I fool, I injure, I drown, I create unbelievers, and I impale.” That would make a difference in our desire for it, what we do when we are given it by God, and how we use it.

Maybe you are saying, “How can I be delivered from the love of money? It has put down deep roots in my life. Is there a weed killer? Is there a way to round up these weeds and roots and kill them? Or am I just left to my own efforts trying to kill these weeds in my own strength?” Well, thankfully not!

Tomorrow I’ll supply some weedkiller. But if you want a hint about how to get started today, then have a look at verse 6.

As most of you probably know, Justin Taylor and Kevin DeYoung are taking considerable heat for their courageous pre-emptive strikes against the misleading, confusing, and damaging publicity materials surrounding Rob Bell’s anticipated book Love Wins. Kevin’s latest post clarifies the issues considerably.

What some of you may not know is the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual toll that such spiritual conflict takes on the body, mind, soul, and relationships of the men at the center of this storm. So, I’d simply like to ask you to put Justin and Kevin in your prayers throughout these days. May I suggest that we pray specifically that they will:

1. Have peace and assurance in the heat of the battle
2. Enjoy restful nightly sleep
3. Communicate wisdom and grace in all their responses
4. Avoid losing their tempers in public (and private)
5. Receive understanding and support in their congregations and workplaces
6. Be protected from overt and covert assaults on their ministries and characters
7. Experience the daily relief of happy relationships with their wives and children
8. Win souls to Christ as they have opportunity to speak the truth in love
9. Hold the line.

Yes, and let’s pray for Rob Bell too. If he’s erring, may the Lord bring him back before he leads many astray. If he’s been misunderstood, let’s pray that he will issue a speedy clarification. He can settle this before lunchtime if he wishes.

Financial bankruptcies are at record levels. It’s very tempting to give up paying off our debts and start again with a clean slate.

Now we hear that more and more people are declaring email bankruptcy. The basic idea is that if you are drowning in over 3000 unanswered emails, with 200+ still coming in every day, select all the emails in your Inbox, press delete, and send out an email to all contacts declaring your bankruptcy and your intention to move forward with fresh start and an empty Inbox. (Don’t tempt me!)

Or you can just declare a vendetta against email. That’s Alexandra Samuel’s solution to the eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt reply to every email.” 

Declaring a vendetta on mandatory email, involves putting the cost of communication back on the sender.

What if we decided only to respond to the emails that actually feel important, valuable or exciting enough to warrant a response? What if we left inquiries unanswered, information unacknowledged, requests unfulfilled? What if we chose to respond only to the email we actually want to respond to? It’s possible. We can can shift the cost of making a message response-worthy back to the message sender.

Here’s a draft of the message she’s planning to send to her contacts:

Don’t you just love that! It is so, so tempting.

PS: Isn’t it amazing how willing people are to declare financial and email bankruptcy, but so few are prepared to declare spiritual bankruptcy (Matt. 5:3), and move forward by grace into the future and into eternity with a clean slate.

When you’re forced to be simple, you’re forced to face the real problem. When you can’t deliver ornament, you have to deliver substance.
Paul Graham.

Most have known services where music has been deployed as a narcotic, blurring the jagged memories of the day-to-day world, rather than as a means by which the Holy Spirit can engage those memories and begin to heal them.

Jeremy Begbie, Sentimentality, Beauty and the Arts,” The Beauty of God, published by IVP.

Extracted from Vulnerability and Sentimentality by Chelle Stearns.