1 Timothy 6:9 – Desire's Installment Plan
9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts… 1 Timothy 6:9, New King James Version
As a twentysomething destined for martyrdom on the mission field and Glory thereafter, a young Jim Elliott as he writes and thinks has almost too much prescience for me to keep admiring him at twice his age and some smaller fraction of his virtue. Almost. In his journals, Elliott is reflecting on the possibility of marrying with considerable cool sobriety. He knows as a husband he will be responsible as provider and that this, Scripturally, will divide his attention and energy. He knows with no pejorative intention toward his beloved Betty that each legitimate need met creates additional responsibilities and wants. He knows already that keeping up with the material status quo can prove tyrannical.
So does Paul, as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Before Pastor Timothy, Paul's young protégé, takes too many steps in that direction, Paul is warning him in no uncertain terms. When desire for wealth gets a foothold, begins the progression or digression of 1 Timothy 6:9, we give preeminence to something besides the wealth that is hours in the righteousness of Christ. Dwell on it, turn it over and over in our minds, and it begins to shape how we see the world, the decisions and opportunities we survey. Do that long enough, and we are ready prey for snares we would otherwise bypass because we would be wiser to the traps implicit in such "opportunities." Even trapped, even when desire and temporary fulfillment have kept us longer than we wanted to stay, Paul, and Jim Elliott with him, warn us that we are just beginning to pay on desire's installment plan.
Satisfy one desire, foresees Paul, and they multiply. Desire riches, for instance, fall into their snare, and we are distracted by more temptations and harmful lusts. The spiritual muscles of sanctified discipline atrophy, and we begin to fall into the allure of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Ironically, the mercy and grace of God by which we are not struck down immediately when we give into the sorts of temptation Paul describes we take as a kind of enablement. We see it as permission to continue down the same pernicious road without consequences. We discern, correctly enough to a point, that we are allowed to enjoy ourselves on Earth. Tasting that, though, the more subtle flavors of Christ's goodness we perceive by faith settle into life's background.
When we begin to sense that we can be satisfied now, those demanding voices become louder. They compete with one another in a contradictory fashion such that, for any pleasure we enjoy, it is undercut by the regret that we are not enjoying another in the same moment.
Money's fungibility makes us particularly susceptible here. There are so many things we can do with it that the opportunity cost can actually sap a lot of otherwise legitimate enjoyment. Screwtape, and real demonic forces along with him, delight that they can tempt us with that that doesn't, in the end, give us any real joy anyway. We are fooled, and fooled ourselves. Less and less accustomed to discerning choices, we try to grab both when satisfactions of the flesh compete for our attention, and in such we foolishly and harmfully give away our peace.
As a twentysomething destined for martyrdom on the mission field and Glory thereafter, a young Jim Elliott as he writes and thinks has almost too much prescience for me to keep admiring him at twice his age and some smaller fraction of his virtue. Almost. In his journals, Elliott is reflecting on the possibility of marrying with considerable cool sobriety. He knows as a husband he will be responsible as provider and that this, Scripturally, will divide his attention and energy. He knows with no pejorative intention toward his beloved Betty that each legitimate need met creates additional responsibilities and wants. He knows already that keeping up with the material status quo can prove tyrannical.
So does Paul, as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Before Pastor Timothy, Paul's young protégé, takes too many steps in that direction, Paul is warning him in no uncertain terms. When desire for wealth gets a foothold, begins the progression or digression of 1 Timothy 6:9, we give preeminence to something besides the wealth that is hours in the righteousness of Christ. Dwell on it, turn it over and over in our minds, and it begins to shape how we see the world, the decisions and opportunities we survey. Do that long enough, and we are ready prey for snares we would otherwise bypass because we would be wiser to the traps implicit in such "opportunities." Even trapped, even when desire and temporary fulfillment have kept us longer than we wanted to stay, Paul, and Jim Elliott with him, warn us that we are just beginning to pay on desire's installment plan.
Satisfy one desire, foresees Paul, and they multiply. Desire riches, for instance, fall into their snare, and we are distracted by more temptations and harmful lusts. The spiritual muscles of sanctified discipline atrophy, and we begin to fall into the allure of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Ironically, the mercy and grace of God by which we are not struck down immediately when we give into the sorts of temptation Paul describes we take as a kind of enablement. We see it as permission to continue down the same pernicious road without consequences. We discern, correctly enough to a point, that we are allowed to enjoy ourselves on Earth. Tasting that, though, the more subtle flavors of Christ's goodness we perceive by faith settle into life's background.
When we begin to sense that we can be satisfied now, those demanding voices become louder. They compete with one another in a contradictory fashion such that, for any pleasure we enjoy, it is undercut by the regret that we are not enjoying another in the same moment.
Money's fungibility makes us particularly susceptible here. There are so many things we can do with it that the opportunity cost can actually sap a lot of otherwise legitimate enjoyment. Screwtape, and real demonic forces along with him, delight that they can tempt us with that that doesn't, in the end, give us any real joy anyway. We are fooled, and fooled ourselves. Less and less accustomed to discerning choices, we try to grab both when satisfactions of the flesh compete for our attention, and in such we foolishly and harmfully give away our peace.
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