You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person
will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an
idolater, worshiping the things of this world (Ephesians
5:5 NLT).
But godliness is actually a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment (I Timothy 6:6 NASB).
.
But godliness is actually a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment (I Timothy 6:6 NASB).
.
We
always have a G(g)od in our lives.
Either the one true God or anything else we value above Him. In this Christmas season we have been
bombarded by Madison Avenue telling us that we need to have every sort of
material possession and that we can obtain them with minimal cost. In the light of this reality it might behoove
us to think about what Paul told the Church in Ephesus about greed.
Godliness with Contentment
To
understand greed it is necessary to comprehend the meaning of
covetousness. Covetousness is desiring
something so much that we lose our contentment in God. Greed is covetousness’ ugly stepchild. Greed is a lust that by definition can never
be fulfilled. The more you get the more
you have to have. Once a very wealthy
man was asked how much is enough? His retort was very telling. He said, “just one more dollar than I
have.” There is no rest for the
greedy. Just as there is no peace for a
lustful pursuit in relation to sexual pleasures, power, success, etc.. This is why Paul told his disciple Timothy, But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by
contentment (I Timothy 6:6 NASB). Contentment
is the opposite of covetousness.
Covetousness says that God is not enough and we need to seek our
fulfillment elsewhere. Let’s call it
what it is, it is spiritual adultery. If
we seek our greedy desires, we have to reject what Jesus said, ... “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me
will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
Idolatry
Paul stated in our original scripture that a greedy person
is an idolater. Jesus made it clear. Therefore
put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness,
passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5
NKJV). The 10 Commandments begins and
ends with almost the same thought. “You shall have no other gods before Me (Ex
20:3) and You shall not covet.......
(Ex 20:17). Greed is the evidence of a divided heart, one in which the “things
of this world” have a stronger hold on us than our God would desire.
I
am not saying that things are wrong, God created them for our good
pleasure. It’s the priority they take
that is the problem. As noted author Tim
Keller has said, “ its when we make good things ultimate things.” There is room for only one God in our hearts. There is
the capacity in our heart for many loves, but only after the one true
God reigns supreme in it. Anything that challenges his supremacy and lordship
is a vain idol, which God in his mercy must allow to die. Why? Because he knows
such idols will never fulfill those who worship them. If we pursue greed we are involved in vain
worship. We are bowing our knee at the
cultural altar of materialism.
God’s Gifts Are Always Best
As Christians we should teach our children about contentment
and gratitude in relation to what God has given to us. Our young people are growing up in an
entitlement society which can lead to discontent and disillusionment. When I worked as a missionary in Hawaii I met
a mother who taught her son the value of being grateful and content.
Her son really wanted a skateboard. She was a single mom with three children. Her son Eric wanted the same things that
other eight-year-olds had. But she (the
mom) had a limited income and could not afford to provide all of those things
for Eric. Skate boards were in vogue and
most youngsters had one. Eric didn’t and
would often talk about getting a new Hobie skateboard. Hobie was sort of top of
the line. One day they were returning from church in the back seat of another
family’s station wagon. Eric spied a
skateboard in the rear compartment of the wagon. The father of the family must have noticed
Eric’s interest in the skateboard and asked him if he wanted it. It was an old board and his son had gotten a new
one. Wow,
it wasn’t a Hobie but it was a skateboard thought Eric.
Eric was stoked as he could hardly wait to get home to try
it out. The family lived on a hill and
Eric went to the top and shoved off and was weaving down the hill with his hair
blowing in the wind and a smile on his face.
Upon one weave he hit the curb and he was bumped off and the board continued
down the hill. Eric took off after it,
but before he could retrieve it, he watched it go into a drain sewer and disappeared. Eric couldn’t believe it. He tried to reach into the drain, but with no
success.
Eric ran back home with tears in his eyes. He related the episode to his mom. He concluded by saying, “how could God give
me a skateboard and then take it away like this? It is not fair, Mom.” She, though not showing it, probably
emotionally felt the same way. But she
counseled him the same way she always had.
She told him we don’t always understand why God does what He does. Sometimes He gives and at others times He
takes away. We must be thankful when God
gives and when He doesn’t. He tried to
understand what his mother was saying and in the best way an eight-year-old
could, accepted his mom’s instruction.
They commit it to the Lord in prayer.
His mom called the city office to see if a utility worker
would come and try to retrieve it. The
worker arrived with ladder and removed the man-hole cover and climbed down into
the sewer to look for the skateboard. A
few minutes later he surfaced with the skateboard to the relief of Eric and his
mom. But interestingly the worker went
back down again and returned with something in his hands. It was a virtually brand new Hobie skateboard.
Now Eric couldn’t believe his eyes. The
worker told them that no one had called about the board and until they did,
they may as well take it. No one ever
claimed it and Eric had his Hobie skateboard from God.
When we put things ahead of our relationship with God, we
always end up with second best.
Ken Barnes, the author of “The
Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”
YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
