The Promise of Godliness

Godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 TIMOTHY 6:6
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The Promise of Godliness
The eagerness, or desire, for money extends more widely than greed. It extends to all other things, to the desire for power, pleasure, gold, or silver. . .. The man who is involved with greed has the source of every evil. One evil after another wells up for him. . .. On the other hand, "there is great gain in godliness with contentment" (1 Timothy 6:6). Also, an enthusiasm for generosity is the source of all good things. We have heard Paul's admonition against greed, which he describes as the "root of all evils." He means of this life, so that we say nothing about the life which is to come. You see, the greedy man deprives himself of eternal life, because his heart is swollen with many concerns. Because he has all these worries, he is forced to fear the dangers of fire and of water. As many worries threaten him as there are grains of sand on the seashore. Thus he destroys this life as well as that which is to come, just as "godliness has the promise" (see 1 Timothy 4:8). Greed is the worship of idols. You see, greed worships money, but godliness worships God.

From Lectures on 1 Timothy (Luther's Works 28:371-72)
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