All things come from God and money, like any other gift, can be used for good OR evil. The pursuit of wealth has the ability to make itself the loudest voice we hear, dulling the still, quiet voice of Holy Spirit within us. In this passage money is the root of all evil.
Ask for wisdom from Holy Spirit to guide you in how Jesus would want you to use it for your good and the good of others.
James 1:5-6 (ESV) "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."
In James' time, Jews understood wisdom as practical advice for solving problems (Proverbs 2; Proverbs 9:10-12). It entailed sound judgment about handling difficult issues, discerning what to pursue or avoid, and making godly decisions. Thus, asking God for wisdom was a prominent theme in Jewish tradition. King Solomon remains famous for asking God for wisdom (1 Kings 3:9-10), and the book of Proverbs in Scripture, as well as others like Ecclesiastes and Job, extol wisdom.
God gives wisdom to everyone who asks Him for it. Nineteenth-century theologian Alexander Maclaren points out that it doesn't matter what we've asked in the past or what we've done with past gifts. It doesn't even matter what sins we've committed in the meantime … God still gives "generously to all without reproach," and we're actually guaranteed He'll answer when we ask for wisdom (James 1:5)! First 5
Here’s what I am learning in my life. The sacrament of the present creates a place for honesty and confession and empathy and healing. And I begin to embrace the gift that no one of us is on this journey alone.
Reading from Acts chapter 2 (NIV): “Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind, came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” What a moment on the Day of Pentecost!
Whatever could this mean? Peter responded to that question with a trio of God-given endorsements of Christ. He talked about when Jesus healed bodies and called life out of Lazarus’s dead body. Then he deemed Christ worthy to serve as a sacrifice for humankind. Then the resurrection, to be the beginning of life and the end of the grave. The word was out that the Word was out. Max Lucado
Ezekiel 7:19
19 ‘They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity. The New King James Version
When disaster comes, the desire to survive overcomes that of keeping valuable possessions, especially heavy precious metals. In Isaiah’s description of the Day of Yahweh, the people throw away their idols of silver and gold. Ezekiel’s reference is more likely to idols of silver and gold than to economic status. Even so, the wealthy and the poor are now equal; riches cannot deliver anyone from God’s wrath. Explicitly identifies the Day of Yahweh as the day of His wrath. Faithlife Study Bible
Those left alive would hide in the hills and be characterized by four things: (1) mourning—moaning like doves in shame, displaying their humiliation over sin by wearing sackcloth and shaving their heads (2) weakness; (3) horror; and (4) disgust and disillusionment over wealth.The NKJV Study Bible
There are many whose wealth is their snare and ruin; and the gaining the world is the losing of their souls. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. The wealth of this world has not that in it which will answer the desires of the soul, or be any satisfaction to it in a day of distress. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Zephaniah 1:18
Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the LORD’s wrath;
Proverbs 11:4
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
But righteousness delivers from death.
Ezekiel 14:3–4
“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?“ Therefore speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols,
Isaiah 2:20
In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver
And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship
Isaiah 30:22
You will also defile the covering of your images of silver,
And the ornament of your molded images of gold.
You will throw them away as an unclean thing;
You will say to them, “Get away!”
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