Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. An uncontrolled longing for an increase for material gain, be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions; social value, such as status or power.
Greed is a strong desire for more and more possessions (such as wealth and power), envy goes one step further and includes a strong desire by greedy people for the possessions of others. Greedy people lack empathy. Caring and being concerned about the feelings of others is not part of their repertoire.
Greed is a sin! Greed is a spiritual disease of the heart, affecting all areas of a person’s life. Greed is always self-centered and it is never satisfied.
There are stories in the Bible about greed. Oh yes there are! There is a story about greed, in almost every book of the Bible. There is the story of Eve disobeying God for a piece of fruit. There is the story of Lucifer, who wanted to take God’s place in heaven. There is the story of greedy Gehazi, who coveted money and clothes and was punished with the disease of leprosy. There is the story of Achan, who caused Israel to lose a battle over a garment, some silver and gold. There is the story of Simon, who was greedy for power. The story of Ananias and Sapphira, who perished over the love of money. The worst greedy story of all is Judas, who sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Money, fame, food, attention and all the things that greed chases after are not evil in and of themselves. God promised to give us richly, all things to enjoy and Jesus said that He came to give us life and life more abundantly. But this abundant life is not synonymous with more wealth, food, power or things. Jesus warned us in Luke 12:15, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
The Bible warns us to not love the world or anything in this world. This world and its desires will pass away, but the man or woman who does the will of God will live forever.
Comments