Money is NOT the root of all evil

Many of us have grown up with certain myths about money. Indeed, whenever I speak to people and ask them about these myths, one of the most common ones that people carry around  is that ‘money is the root of all evil’.

We have heard this in church, mostly, as this phrase is allegedly taken from the Bible

Can you see the dilemma here? On one hand we want to make money, but on the other hand we believe it is the root of all evil.

When you inherently believe this, you will subconsciously shy away from opportunities to make money, or you may want to get rid of it as fast as possible, so you find yourself spending it.

You may also only notice people have made money through corrupt means, causing you to think that it is only evil people who acquire it.

Imagine having Sh1, 000 in your hand, looking at it and thinking it is evil; you will want to get rid of it. But can that piece of paper in your hand really be evil? As a piece of paper it wields no power other than what you give it.

Love of money

Let’s go back to the Bible: The verse actually reads, “The love of money is the root of all evil”. Once read the right way, it starts to make sense. Let me show you some examples.

We live in a society that loves money, loves having money and glorifies those with money.

Many people have made money their priority, and this is the problem. I have said this before and I will say it again: Money is a tool or resource for your life. It is not your life. It can be evil if you make it your life (hence love it) or the objective of your existence. We do this by prioritising making money over everything else.

Imagine a household where the parents are always at work or doing something or the other in search of money.

Time together as a couple is compromised; time with family is compromised and many times, even their own health is compromised.

They are deluded into thinking that if they reach a certain status or level of finances, they will spend time on these other things.

They don’t realise that money is a moving target; it will never be enough. If you make a million, you want five. If you make 10 million, you want 20. If you get addicted to the attention that money brings, you always need to make more or buy something bigger to retain the attention.

The child who grows up in that family will be resentful because of all the time the parents spend with the other child called money.

If his relative happens to whisper, “Money is the root of all evil,” this child will obviously believe it because he feels neglected. But it was never the money or even the process of making money.

It was his parents who chose to value money above him. Our pursuit of wealth has to be grounded deeper in something more than just making money.

What is important to you and why you are making this money are questions that have to be answered. Many people say they want their families to have a better life.

It doesn’t matter how materially successful the parents turn out to be; the fact is, absence of quality time with his parents has not made this child’s life better, but worse.

The pursuit has actually taken them further from their goal. When you understand what you truly value, how you make money will not compromise that. You will make and use the money as tool to get where you want, not further from where you want.

Dangerous obsession

The danger of love of money is also shown when we begin to adore destination rather than process. We speak of wealthy people and want to know what they have now as opposed to what they went through.

The real gem in making money is the process, not the destination or millions in the bank account. Wealth creation is not the Range Rover or luxury villa; it is a process of character building.

The process of hard work, commitment and so forth are values that will filter into other areas of life, and validation will come from knowing that one has internal resources that they have strengthened should they ever lose what they have now and need to build wealth again.

Validation will not come from people’s admiration of one’s money, which can easily be lost should one lose it all. A phrase by Suze Orman holds very true: Don’t love money and use people. Use money and love people.