03.03.03 The 1st Snare that Causes Some Seemingly God-Fearing People to Succumb to Corruption

1. The Love of Money

The overarching reason why a seemingly ‘God-fearing’ person could become corrupt is because of his or her ‘love of money’.  As 1 Timothy 6:10 puts it (AMP): For the love of money [that is, the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically] is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves [through and through] with many sorrows.  The scripture that we just read seems to describe Daudi to the core.

In fact, this uncontrollable longing for money can cause a person to trash all his or her values, embark on a wild goose chase for money and end up worse-off as was the case with Daudi.  From a very young age, the man had been obsessed with getting rich, moreover for the wrong reasons.  That plutomania must have driven him to put his faith on the shelf and resort to corruption as the fastest route to fulfilling his selfish dreams.  When you analyse Daudi’s situation deeply, you find that ‘money’ was dictating his movements.  ‘Money’ had become an idol, a god. 

How about you?  Are you aware that Matthew 6:24 clearly states that we cannot serve God and money simultaneously?  You cannot serve ‘Money’ and stick to your values at the same time.  God intended that we have dominion over all resources, money inclusive.  So, by allowing money to manage or subdue us, we go against the divine order of the planet that He gave us to subdue.  Indeed, if you fail to manage money, money will manage you.  If you fail to use money as a tool, money will use you as a tool; and before you know it, money will have become your boss, ordering you to serve it as and when it pleases; just like what it did to Daudi.  That is how some seemingly ‘God-fearing’ people end up becoming corrupt.