Kelly-Jayne McGlynn

One of the most misquoted scriptures is 1 Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

The way that we hear it, though, is simply, "Money is the root of all evil." That sounds like a very different story!

As someone who grew up in the church, surrounded by those who misused this verse, I've been made to believe that money is sinful and it is wrong to want more of it. But is that what this verse is actually saying?

The word for "love of money" is philargyria, which means avarice: extreme greed for money and material gain. I read that as the love of money for money's sake. The love of money simply for your own gain.

And then, later in the verse, the word for "eager" is oregō: "to stretch one's self out in order to touch or to grasp something, to reach after or desire something" or "to give one's self up to the love of money." Interestingly, the word oregō is used two other times in the New Testament to describe healthy things to long for – aspiring to be an overseer in the church and longing for a heavenly country.

So we can see that longing and desire in itself are not wrong. But it very much depends on what your heart is longing for. Is it for power, comfort, or security from worldly things? Or is it for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?

Both can require money! So, money in itself is not evil. It is a neutral source. But the spiritual impact of this source depends on how you use it.

As I'm processing my own beliefs around money, here are five ways I'm training my brain not to feel guilty about desiring money:

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Recently, I was in a church environment that triggered many of my wounds from past spiritual abuse. The sermon was guilt-driven, and I felt a sense of stuck-ness that I hadn't felt since leaving my past church. But a beautiful thing happened, too, because those from my current church were also there. And I was able to look around the room and feel a sense of peace and awe that God had me right where I needed to be.

As I reflect on this moment, three things come to mind that led me to feel confident that I'm in the right church for me:

Maybe because it seems selfish to focus on ourselves on our day of rest to honor the Lord, I haven’t seen many people make the connection between sabbath days and getting to know ourselves better. But knowing ourselves, our true selves, is an under-utilized resource in bringing God’s kingdom to Earth.

The invitation to rest in God produces many beautiful things in us -- obedience, trust in his provision, and getting to know his character of love better -- topics many people have written about.

But one more important thing that I believe sabbath accomplishes is how we get to know ourselves better. And therefore, get even closer to being pure, unhindered images of God on this earth.

Satan is the accuser (Rev. 12:10), and something that he constantly puts us on the stand for is being a human in a fallen world. We are taught to feel guilty for so many things that, quite frankly, come with the territory of being a limited being in a broken world.

We live in temporal bodies that are constantly breaking down. We live in a world that is full of toxins and fumes. And even if that weren’t true, we still wouldn’t be perfect.

And the good news is that God isn’t surprised by any of it! This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything we can to overcome sin. But it does mean that we shouldn’t feel guilty for things that aren’t sins but are the result of merely being human.

This is such a relief. We don’t have to be embarrassed by things out of our control, and we certainly don’t have to be embarrassed by the way God made us. We can draw near to him instead.

Here are 5 things God is not surprised by:

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While I am all for forging your way ahead past spiritual abuse, purity culture and fear-based teachings, I believe so strongly that purity is a gift from God, not a punishment that toxic church culture invented.

It’s easy for humans to throw out the baby with the bath water. Purity culture has undoubtedly caused spiritual and sexual damage to those who grew up under its fearful, controlling grip. But purity itself isn’t bad. It’s beautiful.

If you’re either single and unsure if purity is worth it or married and need a reminder about God’s perfect design, keep reading.

Here are 3 ways on how not to throw out purity with purity culture:

I believe God has so much compassion for the confusion the younger generations are battling with the Church. We’re at a time in history where so much is being exposed in our world–systemic racism, capitalist greed, political warfare and environmental carelessness, to name a few. Unfortunately, the Church is not excluded from the influence of these same systems. Millennials are noticing and calling out for change, and when they don’t see changes in the Church, they leave.

So whenever I hear of a friend leaving the Church because of spiritual abuse, disillusionment or hypocrisy, I understand. I get it. It’s challenging to determine who God is from what people have done in the “name of God.”

But, even though I see their point of view, I know that leaving God because of what people have done is never the answer. Not all churches are spiritually harmful. And even if they were–God is still good. And always will be.

Church culture may have gotten some things wrong and caused real pain, but I believe there is still real joy in following Jesus. 

Here is a list that I hope will encourage anyone on their journey to leave old, harmful lies behind to adopt new, faithful and exciting ones.

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Abundance is something we all want more of. But the thing is, abundance is already all around us. Because God’s love, provision, and attention are never ever in short supply, we can have an abundance mindset, too. Jesus certainly lived this way and saw the world this way. But when we look at our schedules, bank accounts, news apps, and relationships, scarcity is so much easier to see.

So how can we become more like Jesus and see the abundance of this world as he did? Here are four ways how.

I won’t say that Barbie solves this universal problem or will make a clear-cut, biblical argument for or against complementarianism versus egalitarianism. But it provides enough striking examples to get conversations going–conversations I encourage you to have between the men and women in your life so you can learn from their experiences. I believe this conversation should start and end with empathy.

God puts us in deeper waters through many different aspects of our lives. Maybe it’s a new job that requires way more than you feel capable of, and you lose your bearings on who you are and what you can do. Maybe you lost a relationship that was a stabilizing force in your life, and you don’t know who you are without them. Maybe your life felt like it had a single direction that everything you were doing was working towards, but now you’re questioning if it’s all worth it.

And when these situations happen, God feels far away. Our sense of connection and grounding feels compromised. We just end up feeling…off. And we’re not sure why. So how do we navigate through these deeper waters? Start by asking yourself these questions and see what God reveals to you.

I often joke that because of the number of sci-fi movies about artificial intelligence out there, we’ve already seen how this story ends – with robots taking over the world. So why mess around with it?

Despite my half-hearted protests, AI seems like it is here to stay. AI is creeping up in every corner of our society – from copywriting programs to personalized shopping to autonomous vehicles. It seems like out of “nowhere,” AI is now everywhere.

With this technology becoming a part of our lives more and more each day, Christians may be wondering how they should respond to AI.