“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). What's so bad about money that it's the root of all evil? Well, actually, it's not money itself but the love of money that is the root of all evil. We could easily swap out money with blessings, talents, gifts, or good fortune. The main point is that when we set our hearts on our money or our riches or our success, then we lose sight of both the source of our blessings but the reason that they have been given to us. Samuel the Lamanite explains this very well. “Behold ye, the people of this great city, and hearken unto my words; yea, hearken unto the words which the Lord saith; for behold, he saith that ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you. 22 Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.” (Helaman 13:21-22). We can see here that by becoming covetous of our riches, we transform a good and holy gift of our loving Father into something cursed. Instead of taking the gifts that He has given us and multiplying and replenishing and redeeming the corrupt and fallen world through the goodness we have been blessed with, we lock away our gifts and fixate on them and will warp ourselves and the world around us and compromise anything that is good within ourselves or in the blessings just to hold onto our blessings. But the minute that we try to keep them for ourselves instead of sharing them, our blessings are no longer holy but cursed. And we in turn become cursed as well, because our hearts are set not on that which was holy but that which is now cursed. Our covetousness poisons the Gifts of God and robs them of their power and vitality. We begin to lose the blessings that we had because we did not use them as we ought to have done, and what's worse, we have dammed the flow of any future blessings because we are no longer living in obedience to the laws upon which such blessings are predicated. Loving too much our riches curses the riches, which them curse us, which heap greater curses on our riches, which cause us to be even more cursed. Before we know it, that one little seed of covetousness has taken root and ensnared us with its thorns, until we have been pierced with many sorrows.
