6:91 Timothy 6:9

To want to be rich is a deliberate and settled determination to become rich, not simply having riches, and those who hold that purpose fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful desires that drown them in ruin and loss.ST Mar 22, 1883+3 The love of money is the root of all evil, causing those who covet it to wander from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows.1T 540.2+2 That desire blinds the heart to eternal things, draws affection to earthly treasure, consumes time and strength, and leads to neglected devotion, sacrificed principle, and loss of health, family well-being, and faith itself.ST Mar 22, 1883+2 The man of God must flee that desire and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness, fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life, finding great gain in contentment with basic needs.1T 540.2+4 Those who have riches must not trust in uncertain wealth but trust in the living God, doing good and sharing freely to lay up a lasting foundation, for money has value only when held as a trust to bless others and advance God's work.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+4

The will to be rich in the verse means a deliberate determination and settled desire to become rich, a set purpose of heart and will, not merely possessing riches.ST Mar 22, 1883+4 Those who are so set expose themselves and fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful desires.ST Mar 22, 1883+4 That trap brings destruction and perdition, ruin and loss, drowning men as in deep water.ST Mar 22, 1883+4

The drowning is in destruction and perdition through many foolish and hurtful lusts that follow the determined pursuit.ST Mar 22, 1883+4 The surrounding warning joins love of money and coveting to erring from the faith and piercing through with many sorrows, while contentment with basic needs is set forth as great gain.1T 540.2+3 Even money sought under claim of working for God's cause brings no reward when gained by overreaching or any dishonesty.4T 352.1–353.1

Paul gave this as his dying charge to Timothy while in prison, in infirmity and facing death under Nero before he could see Timothy again, urging Timothy to come without delay.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5 Pursuing wealth is not evidence of godliness nor proof of God's favor.ST Mar 22, 1883+1 Supposing that gain is godliness makes mammon a god and enslaves the person to mammon, concentrating mind and soul on worldly things, dwarfing the higher powers, blinding by the god of this world, halting advance in the divine life, and weakening the family's courage to be devoted to God and strive to enter the strait gate.ST Mar 22, 1883+3

The love of money is the root of all evil, and those who covet after it wander from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows.1T 540.2+4 The determination to become rich brings peril because it casts people into temptation and a trap and into foolish and harmful desires that drown them in ruin, destruction and perdition.1T 540.2+4 Contentment with basic needs is great gain, set in contrast to this pursuit of wealth.1T 540.2+1 The safeguard is to flee covetousness and the desire for riches, and instead to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness, fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+4 Those who already possess wealth are not to be proud nor to trust in uncertain riches, but to trust in the living God who richly gives all things to enjoy, to do good and become rich in good works, ready to give and willing to share, thereby laying up a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+3

The desire for riches blinds people to eternal concerns and distorts judgment and conscience.ST Mar 22, 1883+2 It consumes time and strength, draws the heart to earthly treasure, and leads to neglect of devotion, loss of love for the truth, and sacrifice of health and the well-being of families.1T 476.1–478.1+2 Those set on gain excuse their coveting, strain their consciences, abandon faith and high principles, and may claim they seek wealth for good purposes while deceiving themselves, for gaining what they wanted can make them still less willing to give.1T 476.1–478.1+2 Even when riches are obtained they do not bring the expected happiness; instead care and greed enslave both the seekers and their families and bring many sorrows.1T 476.1–478.1+1 When worldly interests consume the mind, truth seems unimportant, eternal concerns are neglected and forgotten, hearts are closed to truth, and sufferers are met with indifference.Lt 58, 1888, par. 8–10+1

Grasping the world's treasures is incompatible with enjoying the love of Jesus.Lt 31, 1891, par. 50–51 Seeking earthly possessions while neglecting spiritual treasures shows that truth has not shaped the heart inwardly to mold the affections, soften selfish inclinations, and produce purity, love and unity.Ms 82, 1898, par. 2–6+1 Avaricious greed exerts a fascinating, bewitching influence over life that perverts nobility and corrupts humanity until men are drowned in perdition. In the Jewish age the love of money was the ruling passion when worldliness usurped the place of God and religion in the soul, and it is the same now, a service of Satan full of care, perplexity and wearing labor for treasure that lasts only for a season. A life ruled by money-getting binds a person more firmly to the world, while love of money becomes a ruling passion that enslaves the heart.3T 544.2

Money has value only when held in trust as the Lord's gift to bless humanity; when used to indulge and glorify self it becomes a curse, a burden, a constant temptation, a stumbling block and an idol.Ms 82, 1898, par. 2–6+2 Those who choose to be rich for themselves become slaves to earthly possessions, abusing God-given abilities to buy and sell and get gain for things that have no value with God, while neglecting the bread of life and the meek and quiet spirit precious to God.ST Oct 13, 1898 Money entrusted for a time tests whether it has greater power over a person than God, and when used wisely as God's steward it can serve God's purposes rather than master its possessor.Ms 25, 1896, par. 8–10 The danger appears in greed for gain that withholds money and acts selfishly, in covetousness which is idolatry, in accumulating more and spending on appetite, fashion and grand houses what should be returned to God, and in avarice, greed and fraud, all of which the Christian will abandon to follow Christ's self-giving example for the benefit of others.Lt 167, 1897, par. 23–27+2

Rejoicing in temporal prosperity is dangerous, because those who possess worldly treasure seldom seek earnestly to secure heavenly things, and delight in material gain exposes them to entrapment in harmful desires that bring ruin; salvation of souls should be the first consideration.Lt 12, 1907, par. 6 Prosperity may be more dangerous to spiritual life than adversity, because people who feel secure and influential may fail to depend on God.MH 211.3–212.2 Even those who avoid common forms of vice can be brought to ruin by the love of riches.MH 211.3–212.2 Those who trust in riches do not feel their danger, and thousands are led into sinful indulgences that confirm them in intemperance and vice, including strong drink and lusts of the flesh, until men of many vocations and stations, even ministers, statesmen, authors, and men of wealth, talent and vast business capacity, are overcome to ruin of soul and body.CH 15.1–3 Both those already fallen from wealth into want and sin and those still in positions of honor and usefulness yet setting their feet in the same path are in deadly peril and need earnest labor in the love and fear of God, with teaching of strict temperance in all things.CH 15.1–3

The man of God must flee the settled determination to be rich, because that desire opens the way to temptation and a snare and to many foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+4 In place of covetous pursuit he is to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+4 He is to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life to which he is called, holding fast rather than erring from the faith and piercing himself through with many sorrows through love of money.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+4

He is to keep the commandment without spot and blameless until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.Ms 81, 1908, par. 22–26 That appearing will in His own time reveal the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen nor can see.Ms 81, 1908, par. 22–26 He is also to keep what is committed to his trust, avoiding profane empty babblings and oppositions of what is falsely called science, by which some professing have wandered from the faith.Ms 81, 1908, par. 22–26

Those who are rich in this world must be charged not to be highminded nor to trust in uncertain riches.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+3 They are to trust instead in the living God who gives richly all things to enjoy.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+3 They are to do good and be rich in good works, ready to distribute and willing to share, laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life.Lt 3, 1878, par. 5+3

Contentment with basic needs is great gain, guarding against disappointment, loss, and spiritual decline.1T 540.2+2 It stands in contrast to coveting, to love of money, and to speculation and grasping for money faster than circumstances allow.1T 540.2+2 Even financial success gained in that grasping way can injure the soul and bring eternal ruin, while trust in God and generosity in good works store up treasure for eternity.1T 540.2+2

The determination to be rich is withholding from God what belongs to Him, falling into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition, in ruin and loss.Ms 31, 1907, par. 18+4 No one is to hold back even a small gift, and those who have much are to rejoice to invest means to save perishing souls, laying up unfailing treasure in heaven and gathering interest in the bank of heaven.9T 131.3–132.1+1 Money refused to God's work will perish with no heavenly gain, while what is given lays up lasting treasure.9T 131.3–132.1+1

The danger lies in love for means in hand, making men desire to retain it and use it for selfish indulgence instead of using it for God's glory to extend truth, build up Christ's kingdom, and gain eternal riches.Lt 65, 1884, par. 6–11 Few duly consider the warning, and men are afraid to speak the truth about it and to tell the rich to sell and give alms, because people dislike it, resist it, and want all their means for selfish purposes.Lt 65, 1884, par. 6–11 Pursuing unnecessary wealth increases responsibility and condemnation, and can consume time and means that could be used to save souls.ST Jun 25, 1894 Treating money as a god leads to neglecting the perishing around them, and the desire to obtain money brings anxiety, toil, and perplexity, and can lead a person to hinder God's work.ST Jun 25, 1894+1

Inherited wealth more often becomes a snare, temptation, and open door to dangerous hurtful lusts than a blessing, especially when children receive what they made no effort to earn themselves.3T 120.3+3 Riches are desirable only as a means of supplying present wants and of doing good to others.TCBMP 156.2–157.2+1 Money left to children frequently becomes a root of bitterness instead of gratitude, causing quarrels over property and over wills, dissatisfaction, murmuring, envy, disrespect, lawsuits, variance between brothers and sisters who were at peace, and family dissensions.TCBMP 156.2–157.2+1

Fathers who selfishly keep their means to enrich their children make a terrible mistake, for the money they think will bless their children curses them, and property willed principally to children while little or nothing is given to God's cause proves a curse and a source of temptation.TCBMP 156.2–157.2+1 Parents hold their means as talents entrusted by God to use to His glory and must exercise their own God-given right to dispose of it while of sound mind and judgment, with prayer and with experienced godly counsel.TCBMP 155.1 They are to honor God's claims first, remembering needy children who will use means judiciously, and refusing to place means in the hands of unbelieving worldly children who already have abundance merely because they are children.TCBMP 155.1 Fear that means will prove a snare is a right reason to give liberally and not hold onto wealth.LSEGW 244.4

Ministers are specially warned to flee ambition for wealth and follow righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness, fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life, because setting the heart on becoming rich draws into temptation and a trap and then into foolish and harmful desires that lead to ruin, destruction and loss of eternal life.Lt 109, 1899, par. 12–15+2 Worldly business entanglements endanger faith and the soul, as seen in the worldly pursuits of the Wessels family.Lt 109, 1899, par. 12–15+1 Ambitious pursuit of earthly gain can end in perdition, for worldly success is perishable and may become a great evil, unlike labor for the salvation of souls whose reward is enduring.2T 335.2–3

Lot's choice of Sodom for pleasure and profit illustrates the danger, for seeking worldly gain helped expose him and his family to corrupting influences and disastrous consequences.PP 168.1–3 Judas's covetousness illustrates the same ruin, for despite hearing Christ's teaching and having His example his heart was not right.Lt 83, 1896, par. 23–25 The friars' growing wealth, demanded alms and luxurious living while the sick and poor suffered likewise show how greed traps in temptation and harmful desires that lead to ruin.GC88 83.1

Satan lays this snare especially for those looking for Christ's second appearing and keeping all God's commandments, with covetousness and love of earthly treasures becoming the ruling traits of character.EW 227.1 He makes possessors of lands and money drunk with cares, causes them to place affections upon those things, to care more for money than for the success of Christ's kingdom or the spread of truth, and to love and idolize the world when presented in its most attractive light.EW 227.1 Those caught give grudgingly and sparingly, and as long as these traits rule salvation and grace stand back, those held are surely his, and their influence will not lead others to heaven.EW 227.1

Eagerness to get rich ensnares Sabbath-keepers through inventions, patent-rights and other enterprises that divert attention from spiritual preparation, weaken faith through attachment to the world, and draw away money that should support the cause of present truth.1T 550.3 Feverish efforts to become rich through speculation and sudden excessive gains expose the heart to alluring temptations that some cannot resist and can hasten people, especially the young, toward ruin.STB 679.3 Satan makes the first investment succeed to draw the professing Christian in, so that success at the start makes ruin almost certain with a bitter final outcome, as deceiving schemes promise large returns and fascinate even good men into buying shares until confusion, loss, bitter disappointment and for some total ruin of all they had follow.Ms 26a, 1890, par. 4 Speculation fosters continual unrest and thirst for gain, driving a person to seek easy money to spend lavishly, and even the one or two who gain wealth are injured by it.Ms 26a, 1890, par. 4+1 If grace leads to recognition and turning before the course proves fatal, lasting scars on character may still remain.Ms 26a, 1890, par. 8

Uncertain enterprises that seem promising can become a snare, consuming money needed for family and religious work and bringing remorse, loss of confidence and diminished spiritual and physical well-being.Lt 4b, 1864, par. 8 Drawing money from the treasury before it is earned and voluntarily becoming indebted entangle a person in one of Satan's nets.MC 61.4–62.2

The hurtful lusts include intemperance in eating, drinking and dressing, for eating too much or food of objectionable quality easily leads into dissipation and other destructive cravings that drown men in ruin, so Christians must be strictly temperate and let principle rule instead of appetite or fancy.6T 374.1–2 Indulgence in tea, coffee, tobacco, opium and alcohol, strong drink, lusts of the flesh and indulgence of appetite and passion weaken body and mind, dull natural sensibilities, cloud the moral sense, destroy power to discern sacred things, hinder glorifying God, waste energies and can ruin for this life and the life to come.6T 374.1–2+3 When deprived of the stimulant users may find worship lifeless and hunger for the indulgence rather than righteousness, holiness or God's presence, and become less responsive to the Holy Spirit.CH 84.2+1 The path of temptation can appear to offer happiness while hiding danger and a fearful end, so children need preparation to resist before they are born, and both those fallen from wealth into want and sin and those still in honor and usefulness but setting feet in the same path are in deadly peril and need earnest labor in love and fear of God with teaching of strict temperance in all things.MH 371.3+1 Those who trust in riches do not feel their danger, and thousands are led into sinful indulgences confirming habits of intemperance and vice, overcoming even ministers of the gospel, statesmen, authors, men of wealth and talent and vast business capacity to ruin of soul and body.CH 15.1–3

Tobacco-using is one of the ensnaring hurtful destroying lusts, and truly sanctified Christians overcome every hurtful lust.CH 84.1 Christians enlightened on this subject who keep spending on tobacco rob God in tithes and offerings, giving more to gratify destroying lust than to relieve the poor or supply the wants of God's cause while souls perish for the word of life.CH 84.1 When the lust is overcome through self-denial, self-sacrifice and temperance, money wasted on needless expense is turned into the Lord's treasury and Christians become the light of the world.CH 84.1

Pride and vanity, including devotion to dress and fashion, feed foolish and harmful desires and turn the mind from sacred things toward earthly concerns into soul-destroying indulgence.4T 646.3 Vanity and love of praise show how seeking admiration and pleasure can entangle and draw away from responsibilities.2T 291.3 Desire for excitement and pleasing entertainment is a temptation and snare, especially to the young, drawing minds away from solemn preparation for scenes just in the future into worldly pleasures and weakening faith.STB 838.1–2+1 Through worldly people a continual excitement is kept up to induce the unwary to join in worldly pleasures, with shows, lectures and endless entertainments calculated to lead to love of the world, working through finely woven nets that appear innocent but appeal to the natural mind's leaning toward pleasure and self-gratification and fill the mind with desire for amusement so there is no time for the question of how it is with the soul.MYP 373.1–2

People fall into temptation, a snare and foolish harmful desires when they do not place their whole being under the Holy Spirit's control.Lt 65, 1897, par. 10 A heart consecrated to God will not be eager for wealth nor sacrifice to mammon the abilities God has entrusted, for those abilities belong to God and are to be used in His service.Lt 89, 1896, par. 5 Worldly wealth is dangerous when it draws from God, while true riches are found in loving God, keeping His fear before him and using honestly acquired means as a faithful steward, and recovery requires making Jesus the pattern and bringing powers under God's control.Lt 15, 1889, par. 4–5

Entering upon a course of temptation at every step and yielding to follow Satan's temptations is engaging in foolish and hurtful lusts beneath the dignity of a soul bought by the blood of Jesus Christ and capable through His provisions of becoming a child of God, an heir to an immortal inheritance and eternal substance in the kingdom of God.20MR 52.5 Its direction is toward perdition, sacrificing health and happiness, and if followed it reaps a terrible forbidding harvest.20MR 52.5+1 Yielding to temptation and pursuing harmful desires dishonors a soul redeemed by Christ.Lt 1, 1893, par. 8–9 The warning about being drowned in destruction applies even to those engaged in rescue work, for corrupting associations and Satan's influence may lead them into spiritual ruin so that they themselves need rescue and may go beyond remedy.Lt 213, 1900, par. 2

Wanting to have one's own way, to be one's own master and to follow dazzling prospects of pleasure and gain falls into temptation and a snare, with temptation staying on the track through the world and lovers of self and vicious indulgences who strengthen ardent pleasure-loving desires within and cry not to restrict oneself but to enjoy pleasure while one may.Lt 2a, 1872, par. 11–13 Satan hides the miseries sure to follow and uses high hopes and dazzling prospects to charm and allure from duty and religion until conscience warns that the frown of God hangs over, anchor and guiding chart are left, and the person is carried by impulse until shipwrecked.Lt 2a, 1872, par. 11–13 Escape requires making the senses servant to the moral powers, curbing hasty spirit and passion and saying to them, Hitherto shalt thou come but no further, because one passion unrestrained perverts judgment, affects all the moral powers and destroys the entire man.Lt 2a, 1872, par. 11–13

Determination to lay up treasure in the world brings a fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition, for all abilities belong to God and worldly conformity and attachments are forbidden.5T 277.3 The love of money is the root of all evil, the foundation of all avarice and worldliness, and those who covet after it err from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows.5T 277.3 The transforming grace of God felt on the heart turns a hitherto worldly man into every pathway of beneficence instead of hoarding.5T 277.3