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a grasping and grudging one (Deut. 15: 9; Prov. 23: 6; 28: 22). Haplous (single)
means "free from distortion" and so able to see the true value of things. The opposite is
true of the "evil eye" and can only lead into darkness:
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full
of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the
light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (6: 22, 23, N.I.V.).
The subject now passes to freedom from anxiety, but is linked to the context by
verse 24:
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money"
(N.I.V.).
Yet many try to do so, but failure awaits them all. The issue is clear cut. To be a
slave to money, at the same time trying to serve the Lord, is to attempt the impossible.
This only amplifies what we have seen before about materialism. Alas, there are millions
of idolaters about today whose only god is money. And the bondage that this god
demands is terrible indeed. The possession of money is not condemned in the Bible; it is
being enslaved to it that is fatal. James 5: 1-6 is a warning where money can lead us and
Paul warns that a love of it is a root of all evil (I Tim. 6: 9, 10). It has been said with
truth that "money is a trust, not absolute property; an instrument, not an end. It is to be
used, not for selfish enjoyment, but for the well-being of ourselves and others". Another
danger with money is that it tends to make us independent of God. Both this and its
opposite, worry regarding the future, is wrong, for this denies God's care for us and our
needs:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or
about your body, what you will wear. Is not the life more important than food, and the
body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow or reap,
or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"
(Matthew 6: 25-27, N.I.V.).
It is the responsibility of parents to clothe and feed their children, and if human beings
do this, how much more will the heavenly Father do so to all His family? In this context
there is a threefold occurrence of merimnao, "to take anxious thought" (6: 25, 31, 34).
This word does not forbid foresight or provision for the future. In fact the N.T. asserts
that "if a man provide not for his own, specially for those of his own house, he hath
denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (A.V. infidel)" (I Tim. 5: 8). The A.V.
"take no thought", however suitable for 1611, is quite misleading today. In the
seventeenth century `thought' meant anxiety or worry, and the Lord always wants to
saves us from this.
Nothing is more destructive of peace of mind and good health than worry. Prolonged
anxiety takes more lives than hard work. Worry and full trust in the Lord cannot exist
together. If we worry we do not trust, and if we trust we do not worry. And how often it
turns out that what we worry about does not take place!