D17-2: The Real Meaning Of…’The Love Of Money Is The Root Of All Evil’

“If there is found among you, within any of your gates [in any city] that Adonai your God gives you, a man or woman who does what Adonai your God sees as wicked, transgressing his covenant by going and serving other gods and worshipping them, the sun, the moon, or anything in the sky — something I have forbidden…”-Deuteronomy 17:2

Verse 2 of Deuteronomy 17 deals with the most fundamental commandment of all in the Law of Moses…

…the injunction that Israel is NOT to worship other gods.

The instructions that follow concerning what the government officials are to do with the person (either man or woman) who is convicted and found guilty of idolatry are quite chilling indeed.

Why is the Lord so violently against even the idea of Israel flirting with other gods?

It’s because it is a direct affront to not only Him but also to the covenant He entered into with Israel.

Look at this part from verse 3.

“by going and serving other gods and worshipping them, the sun, the moon, or anything in the sky — something I have forbidden —”

 Here, the Lord is once and for all stamping out the notion that He created the heavenly bodies for the purpose of being worshipped OR…

…that in earlier times He said it was okay to worship these objects in the sky.

The Lord is putting His foot down and saying NO.

From here on out, a member of Israel is not to even consider in the slightest sense that it is okay to worship the sun, moon or stars.

Now I find it interesting that God classifies these luminaries in the sky as “other gods”.

Because in reality, there are no other gods and I think the Lord knows it.

God knows darn well that BA-AL, ASHTORETH, MARDUK and ZEUS are all just a bunch of made-up names originating from men’s fertile imaginations that have gone hog wild.

However, just because the Lord is obviously well aware that the planets, stars and moons are just created balls of rocks and gases, He still has to deal with the problem that human beings think otherwise.

That was the issue the Lord was dealing with back then and it’s a problem He faces today.

What do I mean when I say this is a problem God has with mankind even today?

Because even though we as modern believers are aware that other “gods” don’t really exist in any kind of physical or spiritual form, the truth is “other gods” do exist inside the evil inclinations present inside all of us.

What exactly am I talking about?

I’m talking about the tendency people have to worship the following things…

-money

-wealth

-power

-your job

-sex

-status in society.

When I say people today unconsciously elevate the status of these things to a position of other gods, I’m not saying they do it allegorically.

I’m saying they do it LITERALLY man.

I’m serious.

For example, money is no more inherently a god than the luminaries floating in the skies, BUT…

…its ability to corrupt and be elevated to a position of supreme importance in one’s life makes it dangerous because it possesses the strong potential to become a false god and cause men to commit idolatry.

This actually reminds of something quite paradoxical concerning the difference between how the rich and poor think (in general) when it comes to the worship of money.

What’s the difference?

Poor people (and I would say a lot of the middle-class) focus on and are obsessed with money OR…

…to be more accurate, they are focused on the lack of money.  

This is a mistake because money in and of itself is just an instrument of exchange.

It has little inherent value because it’s just a piece of paper.

On the other hand and this is where it gets paradoxical, the rich do NOT focus on money.

Instead, they focus on building up their skills, knowledge, and delivering value to the marketplace AND…

…as a byproduct of doing that, they end up amassing quite a bit of money.

In other words, they focus on the SOURCE behind real wealth which is value creation while the unenlightened focus on the SURFACE manifestations of wealth.

The poor person says, if only I had more money or if only I could win the lottery.

By such statements, we can see that this person has in a sense made money into a god because he’s treating it as if it is the ultimate source of value in and of itself.

Big mistake.

On the other hand, the rich person says…

…what skills, knowledge and education can I acquire that will make me more valuable?

By that statement, we can see he or she is properly focused on the true source of wealth creation instead of superficial surface manifestations.

So ironically and paradoxically, the poor have more of a tendency to worship money and treat it as a god than the rich who correctly understand that money is just an instrument or tool of exchange that just represents value and thus they are able to put money in its proper place and NOT worship it or turn it into a god.

Think about what I just said.

When the Bible says, “the love of money is the root of all evil”.

What does it really mean?

On a surface level it means don’t make the pursuit of money your God or your ultimate purpose in life.

But on a more deeper and Kabbalistic level, it is also a warning to not focus on the surface manifestations of wealth such as paper money and coins and how high the numbers in your bank accounts are.

Instead focus on the real SOURCE of wealth which is value creation and high income skills that when delivered to the market can easily be exchanged for hard cold cash and is an unfathomable source.

To make my point clearer, here’s an interesting scenario.

Picture two exhausted men washing up on an American shore, swimming in from another country.

One guy has $100,000 cash on him, but possesses zero education or skills he can deliver to the market.

The other guy is dead broke…but he is well educated and possesses a high-income skill that he can quickly trade for cash.

Who would you rather be, a year later?

Heck, even $100,000 can disappear quite quickly, though it may seem like a small fortune at the time.

This is why people who win the lottery are understandably nervous about their sudden wealth.

It’s because they know darn well (subconsciously, at least) that once the money runs out after all their partying, they haven’t got a chance in hell of replacing it.

Heck, that’s why a lot of lottery winners actually end up committing suicide.

It’s because they can’t stand the thought of going back to the “poor” life they lived before they won the lottery.

I’ve mentioned the importance of understanding the difference between money and the underlying source of wealth which is value creation that is delivered to the marketplace.

However, let me ask you this?

What or who is the ULTIMATE source of all wealth, truth and life?

I think you know what I’m going to say and you got it.

It is God Himself.

It is God who is the real source of all wealth, fulfillment and real true abundance and life itself!

So if it is the Lord who is the true source of EVERYTHING we need in this world and next, doesn’t it make sense to focus on Him and Him alone to meet all of our needs?

To do other otherwise, would be to fall into idolatry, don’t you think?

Yeshua was right when he said…

“So don’t be anxious, asking,
‘What will we eat?,’
‘What will we drink?’ or
‘How will we be clothed?’
For it is the gentiles who set
their hearts on all these things.
Your heavenly Father knows
you need them all.
But seek first His Kingdom
and his righteousness,
and all these things will be
given to you as well.”
-Matthew 6:31-33

To paraphrase, don’t be like a gentile (meaning an unbeliever in this context), because to be like a gentile is to really live like an animal and like one who doesn’t have a soul who and like one who has no spiritual understanding of what true wealth is and thus like a mad dog is only focused on surface things like money, sex and all manner of material things in this world.

Instead, focus on the TRUE SOURCE of life and have all of your needs both physical AND spiritual taken care of in abundance by our Father in Heaven, the author and OWNER of all creation.

I’m done.