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11/30/08 - 1 Tim. 6:3-10, 17-19 - Have Yourself a Money Little Christmas. Financial matters are mentioned more often in the Bible than prayer, healing, or mercy. Why? Because our pursuit of money always threatens to derail our pursuit of God. That’s exactly what had happened in the Church at Ephesus. In today’s passage, we will hear Paul condemn "men...who think that godliness is a means to financial gain" (6:4) and in 6:10, those "eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs..." It should cause us to rethink everything, even how we celebrate Christmas. For at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, so shouldn’t we reflect upon how our celebrations might better honor Him? Gift giving is in no way evil or bad. I love giving gifts to my kids and seeing their faces light up. But at the same time we must remember that in America, $457.4 billion was the total expected holiday sales in 2006. In 2007, shoppers around the country spent and average of $859 on gifts for the holiday season. All the while, half of the 6 billion people on this planet live on less than $2 a day. Spending money is not bad. Giving gifts is not bad. But have we stopped and given honest consideration to how we live and how we give? Have we reflected upon how our use of money affects the world?