Greed!

This week in our study at church "7 daily sins" we are looking at greed. Ouch. We are a greedy people if you get down to it. If you have ever been to another country or even go to places right here in the states it is easy to see how greedy we are when others struggle to make it day by day.Look at these verses:



Ecclesiastes 5:10-12



10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver;

Nor he who loves abundance, with increase.

This also is vanity.



11 When goods increase,

They increase who eat them;

So what profit have the owners

Except to see them with their eyes?



12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,

Whether he eats little or much;

But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.



Matthew 19:23

23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.



Money and things are not evil in themselves. When they consume our lives instead of God they become sin. We tend to think we are not greedy because we compare ourselves to somebody to has much more than we do. That is the wrong thing to do. When we have money and things they tend to take our eyes off off God and onto self which is the reason for Matthew 19:23. Look also at this:



Mark 10:17-22



17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.



We are much more like this young ruler than we want to admit. Think about it. If you lost all your possessions and wealth today, would you still be happy, content, and not mad at God? This young man could not do what Jesus asked and I wonder how many of us could? This shows our own greed! I pray and hope I would be like Job and stay faithful to God even after losing all including my family!



Let us not get our lives so oriented around things that we lose our focus on God! Take a moment right now to see where greed lies in your own life and make adjustments where needed!



Tom