Daily Devotional • Februrary 22
A Reading from 1 Timothy 6:6-20
6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it, 8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 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.
11 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16 It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
20 Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge; 21 by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith.
Meditation
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.
“Money makes the world go around” is the opening line of a song from the musical Cabaret. In short, the song makes the obvious point that it is better to be rich than poor, but is that truly the case? In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus praises the poor widow who contributed out of her poverty to the temple treasury over the rich people who gave out of their abundance.
For those of us in the Global North, we are clearly the beneficiaries of financial abundance when compared with the rest of the world. The World Economic Forum reports that the poorest half of the global population owns just two percent of global wealth, while the richest 10 percent own 76 percent of all wealth.
In this reality, we do well to heed Paul’s words to Timothy: “shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.” Come, Holy Spirit, and grant us your fruit of generosity.
Michael G. Smith served as bishop of North Dakota for 15 years and is currently assists in the dioceses of Dallas and Albany. He is a Benedictine Oblate and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Ten wonderful grandchildren call him “Papa Mike.”
♱
Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
The Diocese of Madi and West Nile – The Church of the Province of Uganda
