Today is a good day to check your personal garden to see if you have greed growing there. If so, you had better pull it out by the roots now. It grows so fast, it can soon consume your life and even some of your best friends and admirers will be amazed at what has happened to you.
Just recently, it was announced that a very famous and very, very rich basketball star had bought $9,000 worth of tickets in the Lottery. He explained that it would surely win the “big pot” for him. Such is the face of greed. It is always hungry. It never has enough, nor can it be satisfied. Jesus warned us in Luke 12:15 (NIV) “Watch out! Be on your guard against greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Stories appear from time to time of corporate executives who retire with “golden parachutes” worth millions harassing the government if their Social Security checks don’t arrive on time. The wisdom of Proverbs 15:27 (NIV) warns “a greedy man brings trouble to his family.” His greed, that keeps him edgy and irritable, has a trickle down effect on his family. Some say this is the current understanding of the “American Dream”.
Accumulating as much material wealth as you can was only a small part originally of the “American dream”, it had to do with political and religious freedom. The struggle between the spiritual and the material will always exist until we can find contentment within ourselves through peace with God.
The temptation to materialism you cannot avoid, it is a part of our culture. We are raised to “get ahead”, which means, have more “stuff” than your parents. Yielding to this kind of reasoning is sin.
Like I suggested, check your garden. “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” (Psalm 39:23 NIV)
“Why is it, O God, that the more we get in this world the more we want
stuff that this world has to offer? Sensitize us that stuff can’t bless us. Amen”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment