Good or Evil?

Why does the Bible talk about money in both positive lights as well as negative? For example:

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Proverbs 13:11
"He who gathers money little by little makes it grow."

Matthew 19:24
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Proverbs 21:5
"Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty."

These verses seem to contradict each other, do they not? In one passage it seems to say money is bad and others it seems to say that money is good. Which is it?

Money is not evil, per sey, but rather how we spend our money. The rich in the world live in a fish bowl (celebrities, large CEOS, etc.) and we all can see how foolish they can be with their money. Fancy sports cars which they crash, lavish mansions which they tear down, shopping sprees totaling tens of thousands. Money gives people a sense that they are more important then others. Our whole society agrees, and caters to celebrities. A great example is Beyonce's recent birth...she rented out a hospital wing in order to have her child (at a reported expense of over 1 million dollars!), which in turn affected other parents in the maternity ward which were prevented from visiting their children in the nursery. How is she more important than a parent visiting his sick babies?! Matthew 19:30 "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."

With money comes responsibility, of which most people can not handle.
Luke 12:48
"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

It is not just the ridiculously rich who must be careful of their wealth. We are all instructed to care for those less fortunate. Luke 3:11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same." We middle-class or lower-class Americans may think we are just scraping by to exist, but as my post showed last week, we are rich compared to most of the world. If you woke up in a warm bed, had breakfast this morning, or took a hot shower - you are blessed. See how rich you are. Our family calculated in the top 7.74 of the richest in the world!

I'm the 464,770,115 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>

We are instructed to not be lovers of money, but rather lovers of people. We must love ALL people. If we suddenly feel as though we are better than someone, or deserve more than someone else, we have become that rich man that will have an easier time getting a camel through an eye of the needle then getting to heaven.

Yet, we are instructed to save money. We are instructed to be good stewards of what God has given to us. We are not to go into debt on foolish purchases. We are to work hard and use our money for good. Money can be a blessing, as long as you are blessing people with it. Are we blessing out children by giving them a stable home, or are we hurting them by going into debt for their fancy toys? Are we blessing ourselves with warm clothes and healthy food, or are we killing ourselves with credit card bills and greasy take out?

What is your take on the correlation between good and evil when it comes to money?