Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
SATURDAY, May 29 Ember Day
1 Timothy 6:6-21. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
Listen to two comments by great American writers. Herman Melville wrote in Moby Dick: "The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvelous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! How cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition!"
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his Journal: "Nothing can be more foolish than this reproach...of the love of dollars. It is like oxen taxing each other with eating grass, or a society of borers in an oak tree accusing one another of eating wood; or, in a great society of cheese-mites, if one should begin making insinuations that the other was eating cheese."
Both statements are wise. We really do want money and this is a healthy desire. The issue is whether we use money or money uses us. The love of money in itself is the root of all evil; and this idolatry can possess us with terrible ease if we fail to maintain Christ's wisdom about it in ourselves. (1972)PRAY for the Diocese of Cyangugu (Rwanda)
Ps 30, 32 * 42, 43; Proverbs 25:15-28; Matthew 13:36-43
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I console myself with the thought that God knows I strive to contribute to the best of my ability and with a generous heart. It must be a wonderful thing not to have to worry about money, but I suppose if you have a lot of it, you would worry about making poor decisions with it.