Let us watch and pray against the love of money. It is a subtle disease, and often far nearer to us than we suppose. A poor man is just as liable to it as a rich man.
It is possible to love money without having it, and it is possible to have it without loving it. Let us be “content with such things as we have.” (Heb. 13:5.) We never know what we might do if we became suddenly rich. It is a striking fact, that there is only one prayer in all the Book of Proverbs, and one of the three petitions in that prayer is the wise request–“Give me neither poverty nor riches.” (Prov. 30:8.)
It is possible to love money without having it, and it is possible to have it without loving it. Let us be “content with such things as we have.” (Heb. 13:5.) We never know what we might do if we became suddenly rich. It is a striking fact, that there is only one prayer in all the Book of Proverbs, and one of the three petitions in that prayer is the wise request–“Give me neither poverty nor riches.” (Prov. 30:8.)
~ J.C. Ryle
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 391.
