Greed

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.  -Colossians 3:5

For how often greed is discussed in the Bible, I think the church rarely talks about it. I also think it’s one of those other things the church tends to judge outsiders on - I have never once heard of someone talking to another church member about their tendency to be greedy, or confess greed in a prayer or confession time.

Confession time for me though - while I was reading this, I got distracted with an e-mail about laptop promotions! “Yes God, good word… I love your Bible, wonder what that scripture means… Ooh, new laptop models!” It’s disturbing, really - without greed I think our culture would just cease to function. Of course, we can thinly mask our greed with certain christian-ese: “blessing”, “hunger, “fruits”, “success”... What is even more maddening to me is that I can be talking about bearing fruit and making an impact, and the other person can be nodding and thinking we are on the same page where I am talking soul impact and they are thinking worldly influence.

I think it’s also disturbing the number of people I know who say they have a hard time worshiping. It’s a lot of people! However, the same people who have a hard time worshiping God often times have no problem worshiping a sports team or a new car. Maybe we are thinking about worship wrong. We don’t think of greed as worship, but the Bible says it is.

Colossians 3:12-13

Since God chose you to be the Holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. -Colossians 3:12-13

Interestingly enough for me, I hear very few exhortations to be kind and gentle. If you’re a believer, you’re likely to hear, often: be generous, evangelize more, stand up for your faith, prayer more. But be kind and gentle? I think that may have gotten lost along the way.

There are no worldly benefits to kindness. It makes you easy to take advantage of. If you treat people with gentleness you will be burned and hurt by their reaction. But it’s there in the Bible so we do it. It’s how our master worked and lived.

In all honesty, the biggest thing that keeps me from being kinder is my schedule. It’s so packed that I often don’t have time to stop for the person in front of me or for really finding out how the people around me are doing. It’s hard to be kind when you’re emotionally torqued. I need to slow down more, daily, and let me roots go deep into Jesus.