Weed out Greed

UV 688/10,000 Weed out Greed Then He said to them, “ 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 v 15 The Lord Jesus warns us about materialism and covetousness. A sense of insecurity grips human beings that drives us into the seductive embrace of materialism. Today, materialism or Mammon gives God more competition for the hearts of mankind than any other single factor. Materialism implies giving priority to material and monetary gain in life as if it is the be all and end all of life. Covetousness implies desiring to possess that which one does not have and also to possess that which belongs to another. Scripture equates covetousness with sexual immorality, wickedness and states that it is the root of evil. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life are the three roots of evil that branch out from covetousness. It will pierce us with many sorrows and will lead us into many kinds of traps and foolish schemes. Therefore, we should be on our guard about various types of greed: greed for money, greed for clothes, food or modern gizmos. It is also a warning to avoid the tendency to keep up with the Joneses. We should not look at everything and anything from the selfish and narrow perspective of WIIFM or What’s in it for me? When our hearts and minds are full of such desires, we will have no room for God and His kingdom in our lives and our souls will be impoverished. The Lord is elbowed out of our hearts and lives. Life consists of the abundance of the riches of the grace, peace, hope, wisdom and blessings of the Lord. Instead,we are exhorted to be rich towards God, to store up treasures of His Word in our hearts and treasures of good deeds in Heaven. We are exhorted to be contented since we know that the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. We know that the resources available with God are unlimited. We know His power is unlimited. We know from His Word that His grace and love towards us are unlimited. This becomes the basis of our security. We cannot be easily shaken or tempted. We need to believe that the Lord will provide for our need though not for our greed. We need to understand that we came into the world with no luggage and we will leave it with no luggage. Our life does not consist in material or monetary abundance but as we seek to give priority to God and the things of God, as we seek to live on His every Word, He will add all these things in our lives. It is not an attitude of impractical other-worldliness that this uni-verse encourages but rather it teaches us to be confident and not panic that our present or future need will not be met. It is based on our understanding of the generousity of God’s provision for our lives as well as our experience of His provision for our every need in the past. Over the past many years, the Lord has been faithful in not denying any good thing that our family needed at any point in time. Sometimes the provision would come from an unexpected quarter. When He gives us a vision, He makes the provision. I was hoping I would get a provision of Rupees Ten lakhs to start an office and training center for the Friends of Police. When the provision came miraculously through a new global award, the amount exceeded that goal by more than a lakh or one hundred thousand. Similarly on the personal front, He blessed our few investments to make it grow manifold over time. At different stages as new need arose, the Lord provided. When we give priority to His work, He gives priority to our need. UV 688/10,000 Weed out Greed Then He said to them, “ 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 v 15 The Lord Jesus warns us about materialism and covetousness. A sense of insecurity grips human beings that drives us into the seductive embrace of materialism. Today, materialism or Mammon gives God more competition for the hearts of mankind than any other single factor. Materialism implies giving priority to material and monetary gain in life as if it is the be all and end all of life. Covetousness implies desiring to possess that which one does not have and also to possess that which belongs to another. Scripture equates covetousness with sexual immorality, wickedness and states that it is the root of evil. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life are the three roots of evil that branch out from covetousness. It will pierce us with many sorrows and will lead us into many kinds of traps and foolish schemes. Therefore, we should be on our guard about various types of greed: greed for money, greed for clothes, food or modern gizmos. It is also a warning to avoid the tendency to keep up with the Joneses. We should not look at everything and anything from the selfish and narrow perspective of WIIFM or What’s in it for me? When our hearts and minds are full of such desires, we will have no room for God and His kingdom in our lives and our souls will be impoverished. The Lord is elbowed out of our hearts and lives. Life consists of the abundance of the riches of the grace, peace, hope, wisdom and blessings of the Lord. Instead,we are exhorted to be rich towards God, to store up treasures of His Word in our hearts and treasures of good deeds in Heaven. We are exhorted to be contented since we know that the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. We know that the resources available with God are unlimited. We know His power is unlimited. We know from His Word that His grace and love towards us are unlimited. This becomes the basis of our security. We cannot be easily shaken or tempted. We need to believe that the Lord will provide for our need though not for our greed. We need to understand that we came into the world with no luggage and we will leave it with no luggage. Our life does not consist in material or monetary abundance but as we seek to give priority to God and the things of God, as we seek to live on His every Word, He will add all these things in our lives. One of the effective ways, money looses its hold on us is when we learn to give it away for good causes or God’s causes. It is not an attitude of impractical other-worldliness that this uni-verse encourages but rather it teaches us to be confident and not panic that our present or future need will not be met. It is based on our understanding of the generousity of God’s provision for our lives as well as our experience of His provision for our every need in the past. Over the past many years, the Lord has been faithful in not denying any good thing that our family needed at any point in time. Sometimes the provision would come from an unexpected quarter. When He gives us a vision, He makes the provision. I was hoping I would get a provision of Rupees Ten lakhs to start an office and training center for the Friends of Police. When the provision came miraculously through a new global award, the amount exceeded that goal by more than a lakh or one hundred thousand. Similarly on the personal front, He blessed our few investments to make it grow manifold over time. At different stages as new need arose, the Lord provided. When we give priority to His work, He gives priority to our need. Prateep V Philip http://theunboundedspirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/money-greedy1.jpg Listen to this Blessong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf9TyJ5rv5Q Prateep V Philip