Then Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. A man’s life is not measured by the many things he owns.”
Guard against all kind's of greed.
This is actually a recurring theme in a lot of places in the Bible. As Christians we're supposed to effectively not be greedy. But what does that really mean?
The dictionary defines greed as the "intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food."
And there in is the hook for why greed is so harmful to us. It's an intense and selfish desire for things. A desire that's overwhelming to the point that it excludes the other aspects of life, but especially that of our relationship with God.
For when you have this overwhelming desire as described, it's never fulfilled. It can never be fulfilled, because of how our mind works. As we gather the things we covet, whether that's wealth, food or even Pokemon cards, we always see that there's another, something else, that we just have to have, to possess. Isaiah 56:11 describes humanity as "greedy dogs which can never have enough," and it's true. We want things, we desire things, and if those desires, those base impulses are left unchecked, we will do so to the determent of everything in our life.
Again, and again, the Bible shows us pictures of those who have allowed greed to lead them to ruin, probably the most prominent being Gehazi, a servant of Elisha, in 2 Kings 5:20-27.
But this verse goes even further. It reads "all kinds of greed," or actually "of every kind of covetousness" in the original versions. This is not just a desire for anything, but this is the desire to own things to the point of evil. Later, the Bible clearly states that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). And it's clear, it's not the money that is the root of all evil, but that overwhelming desire for it. That covetousness or greed.
What's worse is that not only is that overwhelming desire bad for us in that it takes us away from God, takes our focus away from Him, but it also leads us further into evil. For as we gather more of what we covet, as less of it becomes available for us to claim, we start considering and justifying the measures we should go to receive the remaining portions of whatever it is. It's not just the root of all evil, but it's the pathway to further evil that so many of us happily follow.
Yet, that was not the end of Jesus' statement. When he clearly identified that we need to guard against greed, he also clearly stated that "a man's life is not measured by the many things he owns."
And this is something else that we have to remember, especially for us here in America. We have almost made it "keeping up with the Joneses" our national past time. We compare what we have, what we've done and what we do to each other so much, and then struggle to go out of our way to attempt to one up everyone.
The extravagant and wild ways that soon-to-be parents are doing "gender reveals" in regards to their unborn children is an example of this. Twelve years ago, right before the birth of my second son, I had never even heard of a "reveal party." Then they started. First it was cakes. Then balloons. Then exploding confetti. I've even seen explosions and dust croppers.
It's an on-going effort to compare ourselves, our lives, against our neighbors. Both coveting what they have as well as attempting to get ahead of them on the curve, so that we could become the benchmark.
And in the end it's greed. And covetousness. And that greed, that desire to one-up and to own more, it destroys us. It destroys the enjoyment that we can get out of things, and even destroys our self-image.
Ultimately, it's a selfish desire to have what they have, not just the social or material standings, but also to possess that concept of being the benchmark by which the neighbors judge.
And in the end, that's not how our life is judged. It's not how those left behind after our death judge us, and it's not how Christ judges us after our deaths.
Journal Prompt: Is there anything in your life that you're greedy for? Why? Do you compare your life to one of your neighbors or friends? Why?
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