The Sickness: Greed

Richard Foster said, “The great moral question of our time is how to move from greed to generosity.”  The Bible uses other words for greed like avarice and covetousness.  No matter the word, greed is the need for instant gratification, often at the expense of future goals.  We all have a need for greed – we seem to be born to it – it’s all the personal desires and hidden wants that live in the best of us! 

Here’s a list that may show what I mean – it’s called the Toddler’s Rules Of Ownership:

1. If I want it, it’s mine… 

2. If it’s in my hands, it’s mine… 

3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine… 

4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine… 

5. If it’s mine, it must never look like yours… 

6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine… 

7. If it looks like mine, it’s mine… 

8. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine… 

9. If you put something down, it’s mine…

10. If it’s broken, it’s yours…

I don’t mean to be flippant about the deadly sin of greed, but what seems extravagant today becomes something nice to have tomorrow; what’s nice today becomes something to be desired tomorrow; what is desired today becomes something I really need tomorrow; what I really need today becomes something I simply cannot live without tomorrow.  The “thing” has gone from a “wish” to a life-threatening “something-I’ve-just-got-to-have.” 

Take for example air conditioning in cars.  When I was a kid, NONE of our cars had air conditioning!  Later, I discovered our neighbors had purchased the “optional” air conditioning in their new car!  And by the early to mid-70’s, very few, if any cars and pickups were built without it!  Something most of us couldn’t afford as an option in our cars, very quickly became something we simply could not live without!  And that’s the core of greed: something you really do NOT need to survive, and yet it’s something you are convinced, if you don’t have it, you’ll just die!

We are born with the insatiable desire for more – and along the way, we’re taught to be greedy – and today, lots of folks WANT to be greedy.  I would specifically point out the recently won $1.3 billion Power Ball jackpot that someone in Oregon won!  How many people paid into that poor-man’s stock market?  The thinking goes like this, “Somebody’s gonna win, might as well be me!” 

But the worst is when greed infects religion – and there’s always some TV evangelist huckster trying to convince you God wants you to be rich and live in luxury!  They quote Matt. 7.7 which says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you!”  But Christianity is about faith not fiction.  Yes, God wants to bless you, but on His terms, not yours!  Greed says we should have it all – right now – and it’s all about what I want, way more than it is about what God wants for me!

Pastor Corey Jenkins

Faith Methodist Church