I was scrolling through social media when I saw an interesting post. Someone in a diabetes-related group I’m a part of asked the question, “Why do you think there is still no cure for type 1 diabetes?”
I saw there were more than a hundred responses in the comments section, and I, being a curious person with a couple minutes on my hands, decided to read a few. Several comments mentioned things like the complexity of curing an auto immune disease. But out of the first dozen comments I read, 11 of them pointed straight to money as the main issue. They cited things like “big pharma” and what a “cash cow” diabetes is.
Now, I’m not here to tell you what is right or wrong in these answers, or even what I personally think about it. We can all have our own ideas and opinions, and that’s ok. But with all but one of the first twelve comments I saw pointing in the same direction, it made me stop and think.
THE REAL ISSUE
Wherever you fall on the line of various responses to the no-cure question, what we are really talking about here is motives. It’s the why behind what we do. It reveals to us what matters most. People making those comments were guessing and speculating most likely, as happens on social media quite often. But money and motives are a big deal.
This was something Jesus spoke about all the time. In fact, 11 of His 39 parables mentioned money in one way or another.
- Money was an issue for Ananias and Saphira, as documented in the book of Acts.
- The Apostle Paul warned Timothy about the love of money in 1 Timothy 6:10.
- At least part of Judas betraying Jesus was for the exchange of 30 pieces of silver.
- And the “rich young ruler” literally didn’t think following Jesus was worth leaving his money behind.
THE BIBLE AND MONEY
The Bible is packed with stories and lessons on money because God knows how powerful and effective it can be if used wisely, and how dangerous is can be if it isn’t handled well. So, diabetes and cures aside, what do we do to make sure we aren’t loving money more than we are loving God?
We go the writings of Paul in one of his letters to Timothy for our answer. Here in chapter 6, Paul has just written about the love of money being the root of all evil, and how those who are rich can easily fall into temptation and destruction. And now this is part of Paul’s final charge to Timothy in this letter – the words he will leave him with.
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NIV)
Paul is telling Timothy that he basically has a personal decision to make. He can certainly fall into the traps of this world, as we all can, but Paul is reminding Timothy that he doesn’t have to. He can make better and wiser choices for himself regardless of what others are doing. He can look different than how the world appears around him. It would take intentionality and even “fighting the good fight of the faith,” but Paul encourages Timothy to stand firm.
It can be easy to try to guess other people’s motives, but we can use this example as an opportunity to check ourselves in this area today.
- What are your motives?
- Are you loving money (or something else) more than you love God?
- In this new year, how do you want to steward your money differently than in years past?
- What matters most?
For further reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-12, Acts 5:1-11, Matthew 26:14-16, 47-50, Luke 18:18-30
