Greed

Luke 12:34

New International Version (NIV)

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Isn't it funny how a couple thousand years after Jesus' time, we still struggle with the same issues he talked about back then?  The work place today generally consists of, in my opinion, many people who are trying to move up in their industry. No matter what the job is, we always want bigger and better; we are rarely satisfied with where we stand. We work our whole lives trying to get a bigger office, better pay, and a nice retirement fund.

When we put more of ourselves into our making money and moving up in our work place than we do working on our relationships with God, though, God becomes dissatisfied with us.  All throughout the bible, we hear that we should not have idols; what we sometimes fail to realize is that money can oftentimes act like an idol for us.  We put so much attention into making more of it that we fail to give God the attention He desires from us.

In Luke 12:13-21, we hear about a rich man who acts in this same way.  This is how it goes:

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Yikes! That's embarrassing. I'd seriously hate to be called a fool by Jesus. My favorite line in this passage is verse fifteen. "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed."  What different types of greed can you come up with?  Most people associate "greed" in their minds with money; however, I believe Jesus is implicating in this passage that people can become greedy of all sorts of items. 

The dictionary definition of the word greed is an "intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food."  It goes beyond just those items, though. If I am always dissatisfied with the amount of electronics I have, and I consistently want the biggest and best on the market, that's greed.  Any desire can turn into greed if we seek it before we seek God. 1 Corinthians 6:10 states, "Nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Now, I do believe that even they can be saved by grace through faith, but can you understand the severity of that sin?

The desires of this world are meaningless in the next. Jim Elliot once said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Therefore, instead of investing in worldly things that will not last, invest in heaven. Invest in a relationship with your Lord and Savior. For God is everlasting, but the things of this world will perish.

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