1 Timothy 6:6-19

For 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. (1Timothy 6:10)

This is one of the most often misquoted passages of Scripture. Notice that it doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil, but rather the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. The word that gets translated as “love” doesn’t do justice to what Paul is trying to convey. The Greek word describes an insatiable appetite in which enough is never enough. It’s that insatiable appetite, that addiction, that ever-present desire to accumulate, consume, and possess at all costs that leads us down a path of destruction. It is only in putting this unhealthy relationship to money to death that we can begin to discover “the life that really is life.” For as Jesus said in response to the devil’s wilderness temptation: "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matt 4:4)