Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Note to readers: This is an alternate reading from the Three Year Lectionary, and may not match up with the readings your church uses this Sunday.
1 Timothy 6:6-10a, 11-18, 19b – But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith … But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you 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, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will display at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, … so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Paul’s right, isn’t he? He talks about money, but then warns us all to go for what really matters most of all—to “take hold of what is truly life.” What is that? Jesus our Savior, who says to us that He is “the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6b).
No amount of money could ever do what Jesus does for us. Money does not love. It does not forgive. It has no power to heal the sick or comfort the grieving or raise the dead. It cannot remove shame or take away guilt. But Jesus can do all those things, and He does do them—because He loves us. Which would you rather have?
I want Jesus. Because as the Song of Solomon puts it, “If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised” (Song of Solomon 8:7b). Jesus is the One who loves us so much that He laid down His own life to break the power of sin, death, and the devil over us. He rose from the dead, and immediately made that everlasting life a gift to us—so that we, too, will rise, and will be with Him forever. He has made us His own family, members of His own body—that is how much He loves and wants us. What can money give in comparison to that?
WE PRAY: Dear Father, give me Jesus. If I have Him, I have everything I could ever want. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions: