1 Timothy 6:9-10

“But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Those in verse 9 “want to get rich.” This is not mere wishfulness. The word describes a driving, determined intention.15 They don’t just build a business, farm, or valuable skills that happen to make them wealthy. The whole point is to become rich. Having this as the determined goal creates problems.

One problem with working “to get rich” is that the person never gets there. They might accumulate wealth, but their definition of “rich” increases even faster. Solomon explained,

“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10a).

As mentioned, only one in five with $50 million or more felt “extremely financially secure.”16

Another problem with working “to get rich” is that this purpose prevents the enjoyment of the wealth. Spending feels painful because it hurts accumulation. It contradicts the goal. In 387 A.D., John Chrysostom wrote of 1 Timothy 6:17,

“The hoarder is a keeper, not a master, of wealth; a slave, not a lord. For he would sooner give anyone part of his own flesh, than his buried gold. It’s as though he were ordered and compelled of someone to touch nothing of these hidden treasures. So with all earnestness he watches and keeps them, abstaining from them, as if it were another’s. And certainly, they are not his own. For what he can neither decide to share with others, nor distribute to the needy, even on pain of infinite punishments, how can he possibly account his own? How can he be a real owner of those things, of which he has neither free use, nor enjoyment?”17

Both work and the right use of its financial fruits can be enjoyable. But toiling and suffering just to get rich makes for a terrible life experience. It’s doubly bad because this goal also prevents enjoying the wealth. It leads to hoarding. It leads to burying the wealth just to die with it. Solomon describes the painful path this way:

“When there is a person who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then gives his legacy to one who has not labored for it; this too is futility and a great evil. For what does a person get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his activity is painful and irritating; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is futility.” (Ecclesiastes 2:21-23).

1 Timothy 6:17-18 describes an alternative. We can enjoy wealth as a gift from God. We can enjoy it by using it “to do good.” We can use it “to be rich in good works.” Solomon describes the alternative this way:

“I know that there is nothing better for them than to be glad and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks and sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13).18

The Wealth Enjoyment Manual

(1 Timothy 6:17-19)