Sunday, January 8, 2017

BREAK FREE FROM THE POWER OF GREED

Luke 12:15: “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth”.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Greed is the selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially of money, wealth, food, or other possessions. Other names for greed include avarice, covetousness and cupidity. A greedy person is one who values material acquisitions and possessions more than God. His sole desire is the inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one need. 

The BIBLE
There are many warnings in the Bible about giving in to greed and longing for riches. Jesus warned, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal… You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:19 and 24). Did Jesus pursue the acquisition of money? No. On the contrary, He became poor for our sake (2 Corinthians 8:9) and had “no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). The only disciple concerned with wealth was the embezzler Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Greed and the desire for riches are traps that bring ruin and destruction.

Nature of GREED
Greed can follow from early childhood experiences or situational circumstances in life, which develops to be ones character and aim in life. Early negative experiences of greed consist typically of insufficient or inadequate nurturing which could be natural and unavoidable. For example, the death of a parent , living in a time of famine or a deliberately imposed situation on a child, such as the case of willful neglect by parents or family. Whatever the circumstances, the effect on the child is a sense of deprivation, of never having enough. Based on these misconceptions and early negative experiences, one becomes gripped by a specific kind of fear. In this case, the fear of lack i.e. of having to go without something essential as there may not be enough of it tomorrow. Because of this constant fear, the individual will obsessively crave the “needed” thing. They will also tend to envy those who have that thing. The basic strategy for coping with this fear of lack is to acquire, possess and hoard the “needed” thing which typically involves: obsessively seeking the chosen substitute for the original lack; compulsively acquiring it; hoarding it; preventing others from acquiring it; criticising what is available (in the hope of eliciting something better) and blaming others for failing to provide enough.

Dangers of GREED
The easier our lives become, the more enjoyment we derive from our wealth and the greater the temptation to store up treasures on earth, instead of in heaven. If we focus on earthly things like material wealth and possessions, we fail to give God the glory and worship He deserves.  Why should we avoid greed? God warns us about GREED because:
   1. Greed DECEIVES us.
The sinful desire of greed motivates us to try to earn more than we need, own more than we can use, and ache for stuff that never satisfies. Greed lies to us and promises things that it does not deliver. Greed tells us that if we get what we do not have and what we desire, we’ll be happy. You see, greed is VERY deceptive. It promises happiness but it always leaves us wanting, One reason God warns us to avoid GREED is because He knows that wanting is an endless search for joy that fades.
  2. GREED often leads us to other sinful BEHAVIORS.
1Timothy 6 says, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” For example, in 1Kings 21, King Ahab’s desire for Naboth’s land resulted in finally the murder of Naboth. The king’s GREED gave birth to lying, murder, and theft.
  3. Greed blinds us to what is really IMPORTANT in life.
This is what Jesus was warning us about in Luke 12:15 that “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” There are some workers who would literally work overtime non-stop if you let them. Their pay-cheques were huge-but ironically they never had any time to spend the money and even worse, they never saw their children or wives because they were always at work. Greed led them to forget that, “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
If we are not careful, GREED can make you care more about furniture, cars, buildings, clothing, popularity, big pay-cheques and earthly success than what is truly important. Wanting can keep us from LIVING! GREED is indeed deceitful, it blinds us to what is truly important and leads us to other sinful behaviors.
  4. Greed can lead us to push GOD out of our lives.
GREED is a form of coveting- a behavior the 10th commandment forbids (Exodus 20:17). In Luke 18 (Matthew 19:16-22), Jesus met a rich ruler who asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus instructed him to give up his money, the man could not obey to follow Christ because he was following money. His negative response revealed that his true God was mammon- money/ wealth. Are you serving other gods, joining secret societies, refusing to avail yourself for God’s work, not being able to pray or study and obey the word of God because of greed for wealth?
Come out of GREED
Once greed takes control of the personality, it does not care who it hurts in the process of getting what it “needs”. All things are secondary to the fear of lack. Too often, the wealthy become complacent and self-satisfied and ascribe their riches to their own efforts instead of acknowledging that every good gift comes from God. We can overcome and come out of greed, if we:
  1. Acknowledge the reality of greed in our life.
Don’t say you are exempt because to do so would be kidding yourself. The truth is GREED affects all of us in one way or another. Many times it’s hard to see because society encourages it. To deal with it, we have to first of all be honest and admit this is true. Our refusal to give of our time for ministry and mission or having more clothes than we can possibly wear is greed. When you keep too many clothes in the closet without wearing them, you rather wear yourself out, taking care of them. To break free from this powerful sin, we must begin with CONFESSION. We must ask God to open our eyes so that we can cultivate an awareness of how often we find ourselves planning, scheming and dreaming of ways to get more and more and more.
  2. Expose the Lies of GREED.
Much of GREED’S power to enslave us lies in its exaggerations and deceptions. It leads us to think, “If I could only HAVE that car or those clothes, I would be happy for the rest of my life…Those things would give me LASTING JOY!” When GREED tempts us with thoughts like this we must remind ourselves that this is a lie, mainly because nothing on this earth lasts and therefore nothing GREED gives us brings lasting joy! Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount warned us that on earth, “…moth and rust destroy… everything”. (Matthew 6:19). Our Lord is telling us that everything on earth is temporary. Everything is vulnerable to rust and decay. All those clothes in your closet, moths are going to get them eventually. The principle here is that Greed lies. THINGS don’t last. To break free of GREED we need to ask God to help us look at life through the lens of eternity so that we can see GREED’S promises for the lies they really are! And then the most important thing we must do to DEFEAT greed.
  3. TRUST God for your needs.
GREED leads us to believe we cannot trust our Heavenly Father to give us what is best for us. But God knows our needs even better than we do and He promises to take care of us. In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus said, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In Philippians 4:19 Paul reminds us that, “God will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” 1Timothy 6:17 says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, Who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Greed leads us to distrust all these promises of God. These days FAITH is out and CREDITing is in for most of us. Let us trust God to give us what we need in the right quantity and at the right time.
Finally
Breaking free of GREED requires us to embrace a patient trust in the CHARACTER of God. We must realize that in His infinite WISDOM, He knows our needs and our children’s needs. We must realize that in His infinite POWER, He is able to meet our needs…and that His limitless LOVE will prompt Him to give us what we need. This should be the thought of the man who wants to break free from GREED. AMEN!
Sample Prayer.

Father God, Help us control our wants….mold us to “set our affections…our desires….on things above not things of this earth.” Teach us to be content with nothing but Your will…and to trust You for our needs. Help us get to the point where we can pray with the Psalmist, “Earth has nothing I desire besides You…God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25). In Jesus’ name I pray…AMEN.

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