by Lucy Gawa

When I was young in school we had a game whereby we used to sing a song which said, “man made money, money made man mad”. If you failed to sing this as fast as you could correctly, your friends would chase you and take away your shoes for the whole day as punishment. It was fun and physical but reflecting on the song now I find it sad because it expresses the truth as far as our society is concerned today. The most shocking part is that the men and women called by God have not been spared from this money madness.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)

This text is coming from a pastoral letter written by Apostle Paul to Timothy, the overseer of the church that Paul planted in Ephesus.  He wrote to encourage the youthful leader to be a good minister in the Church and today encourage him to remain steadfast in the Lord, never to succumb to the pressure by false teachers and their false teachings.

Vs 6-8

• Paul states that godliness with contentment is a great gain.
• He points out that when coming into the world you do not bring anything just as you go out you do not take anything from it.
• He continues by saying that “if” we have food and ” covering” (clothes and shelter), then we should be contented.

Vs 9- 10

Paul wrote that people who want to get rich fall into temptation and are trapped into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 

Paul emphasised this by pointing out that the love of money is the root of all evil.

He finished by saying that some people who were eager to have money, wondered away from faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Today there is shameful materialism, deceit and selfishness among some men and women who were called by God. Some have commercialised religion. They are selling items such as salt, handkerchiefs, oil, water, and many things.

They claim that the items are anointed, and they will solve their followers’ physical and spiritual problems. 

There is competition among themselves over who owns the most expensive wardrobe, largest feet of cars, private jets, largest number of mansions, and more.

There is a huge display of discontentment and restlessness among these men and women because of their love of money. There is no godliness left in them. Jesus, through the Apostle Paul in this letter to Timothy, is telling us that godliness and contentment is the answer to being a good Church leader.

DO YOU WANT TO BE A GOOD AND EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN LEADER?

The passage reveals two secrets.

1. “Godliness” means living a God pleasing life.
2. “Contentment ” means being satisfied or having a sense of fulfilment or to be complete or to have a sense of no lack. 

The first secret is godliness

Godliness alone can give a man the sense that he lacks absolutely nothing deep in his soul. He knows that he has everything in our Lord Jesus Christ no matter how tough things can be. No great gain could ever come to a person than this feeling.

We only need food, clothes, and shelter, and we praise God for these. All other things are temporary. This is the reason we should constantly remember that we brought nothing to this world and we shall carry nothing when going out of it.

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Phil 4: 11b

As Christian leaders we should live Godly lives. It brings contentment to the soul.

We should concentrate on permanent things that we shall take when going to our father in heaven. This is eternal life.

The second secret is contentment

When we are contented with what we have, we have time to concentrate on godly causes and soul winning, but when we love money we are led into sin. We fall into temptation and get trapped. Our lives and desires are dominated by thoughts and schemes of how to become richer. There is no time to think of godly things and winning  souls. Like a sinking ship we plunge into ruin and destruction.  

Money itself is not wrong. It is neither moral nor immoral, but if anyone loves it more than God it becomes sin. It becomes a god. It makes us wonder away from God and we pierce ourselves with misery.

Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.

Proverbs 15:16

 As Good Christian leaders we should keep our lives and behaviour free from the love of money we should be content with what we have in order to remain in truth that we have in Jesus Christ. 

This text is encouraging us to live a holy and contented life in order for us not to fall away from faith and wonder away from God by following harmful and foolish desires. It is reminding us of how temporary wealth or money is as we shall never take it with us when departing from this world.

The secrets to good Church leadership are godliness and contentment not riches. These will help us stay steadfast in faith no matter how much pressure the world and its false prophets may exert on us. By being good Christian leaders, we shall not only avoid many troubles, we shall save many souls who shall follow our example. After everything in this life, we shall receive eternal life and live with our LORD JESUS CHRIST IN ETERNITY.