Luke 12:15
A dear friend of mine slipped on the ice outside her home and took a tumble. Thankfully, she wasn’t seriously hurt!
When she told me about her mishap, she said she wasn’t being overly careful because it didn’t look dangerous. She concluded, “If it had looked like ice, I’d have stayed off it.”
In life, it isn’t the sins that look like sin that tempt Christians. I know that the sins of murder, stealing and lying are wrong. No Christian would deliberately sin! But the sins of the heart are subtle and don’t seem as ‘real.’
Christians often don’t even recognize greed as being a sin. If fact, ‘we’ rarely even recognize greed at all. But, the Word reveals greed as being a sin! (Romans 1:29, I Corinthians 5:9-12) Greed was placed on the same level as wickedness in Luke 11:39.
In Luke 12:15, Jesus warned His followers that we are to ‘watch out’ and guard our hearts against being greedy. He advised that ‘life’ isn’t about having a lot of ‘stuff’. So, are we to live as paupers and have no ‘stuff’ at all in order to please God? That doesn’t sound reasonable.
What is greed? Greed is defined as a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed. Greed isn’t having a lot of stuff; it is never being content with what you have.
When loving Jesus is the focal point of my life; I keep the pursuit of material things in balance. Anytime my priorities get out of line and I begin to focus on ‘having stuff’, I’m starting to slip slide away.
Luke 12:15 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.”
Prayer: Father, help me to recognize the subtle sins, like greed. Make my heart sensitive to the Holy Spirit so that I am not easily fooled by sins that the world accepts as common. Give me a generous heart and a contagious Spirit so that I give freely of all that I have. Thank you for your many blessings. Amen.
Scriptural References:
Romans 1:29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips–,
I Corinthians 5:9-12 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
Luke 11:39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.