Greed is a terrible
thing. It is sad that we often ignore it despite that the word of God has
nothing good to say about it. It is one of those things I would describe as
"little foxes that ruin the vine." It has been known to destroy great
men including mighty men of God. Greed is insatiable; it never says it has had
enough. It is a trait which should die if found in any believer. It cannot be
managed; we can't live with it. No wonder the bible says Godliness with
contentment is great gain. The profundity of that statement is much clearer to
me today seeing how greed destroys believers whilst also leaving a number of us
without character and/or integrity so that we are slowly bringing the Lord's
name to disrepute albeit unintentionally.
Ephesians 5: 3
"Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such
sins have no place among God’s people."
Sadly, we refuse to
see that we are greed driven even when we are; we mask our greed in several
different ways so we don't have to deal with it. For example, we prefer to say
we are "driven" or even very ambitious when we know in truth that we
are greedy. I am not suggesting that it is bad to be driven or ambitious but
the question we ought to ask ourselves whenever we make this excuses is this -
what drives me or has ambition possessed me? Could this be greed? There is a
fine line we must never cross and every believer knows when they have crossed
it. The Holy Spirit always let us know. Greed may seem right at the beginning
but greedy people never end well.
Proverbs 15: 27a
"Greed brings grief to the whole family."
Contentment has
become an unacceptable word for many believers in my Country yet the bible says
Godliness with contentment is great gain. We must remind ourselves that our God
is the All Wise God and His counsel is always right. If He says we need to add
contentment to Godliness, we must make every effort to do so. We cannot
outsmart God; we can only ruin our lives in trying to outsmart Him. God knows a
greedy man from one that isn't so that all the fine words we use to mask greed
do not deceive God. When greed made Ahab and Jezebel eventually kill Naboth,
they discovered that their greed was not hidden from God though they hide it
from man as they lied against Naboth to get him killed. We must not allow
ourselves suffer the faith of those two and several others like them.
1King's 21: 4 - 6
"So Ahab went home angry and sullen because of Naboth’s answer. The king
went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat! “What’s the matter?”
his wife Jezebel asked him. “What’s made you so upset that you’re not eating?”
“I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard or trade it, but he refused!” Ahab told
her."
Oxford dictionary
describes greed as an Intense and selfish desire for something, especially
wealth, power, or food, whilst Webster's dictionary describes it
as selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is
needed. Greed and covetousness are intertwined because a greedy person would at
some point or the other desire strongly that which belongs to another. Such
people want all that is their's as well as that which belongs to another. Like
Ahab, they can kill to get what they desire and yet want more. Such
people unwittingly cede control of their lives to the devil making him
Lord in their lives. Greed has no place in a believer's life. That strong
desire is not of God but from your flesh which is obviously yielded to the
enemy. We must learn contentment again.
1Timothy 6: 6
"Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth."
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