No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:24
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.
1 Timothy 6:10
The Hebrew word “mammonas” is used four times in the Scriptures and each time is translated as ‘mammon’. It does not mean money but the wealth personified, Mammon. It is avarice the extreme greed for wealth. It is the correct word as it is use in contradistinction to the love of God. The new translations change the word to ‘money’ or is a few cases ‘wealth’. Both fail in fitting the context. It is not money or wealth itself but the overall cupidity, craving, for wealth as opposed to the whole hearted love of and desire toward God. If your primary interest is the bottom line and not what is right before God, you may be lining up to be “pierced … through with many sorrows”.
Luke 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
It is the unrighteous greed for wealth.
Obviously, we need certain things. In today’s world we do not hand make all that is necessary or wanted. We use money as a method of trade to obtain what is needed. Depending on what the money is used for determines whether it is being used in a righteous endeavor.
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