Skip to main content

The Greedy

             The greedy bring ruin to their households, but the one who hates bribes will live. (Proverbs 15:27 )

Our society loves to condemn the greedy, all of whom they suppose to be rich. If you’re not in the “one percent,” or perhaps the “ten percent,” you can’t be greedy. According to the Cambridge Dictionary Online, Greedy means “wanting a lot more food, money, etc. than you need.” The problem is, of course, in that pesky phrase “than you need.”

Does an emotional need to keep up with the Joneses constitute the sort of need we should include before we decide someone is greedy? In The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Screwtape suggests that greed need not include only “more, more, more,” but can also mean “I only want this one very specific thing, done or made just so. It’s such a little thing. I don’t think it’s too much to ask, but if you won’t accommodate me in this insignificant way, I’ll understand. I don’t mean to be a bother.”

Greed doesn’t have to about money or things. It can be about power, attention, or anything else we might want to gather to ourselves. I’ve seen genealogies online that have obvious mistakes in them, so that no one else can have the true information about that line at the expense of that genealogist. And I understand their feelings because it’s irksome to put years of research into a subject and hand it to others to claim as their own.

So, returning to the passage, how does the greedy person ruin their household? Think of Scrooge. Money came before family, friends, and comfort. Think of the people who complain that they can’t afford a home of their own, but they have expensive cell phones, huge TVs, regular fancy manicures, wonderfully styled hair, cigarettes, eating out, pop, coffee-shop coffee, alcohol, tattoos, subscriptions to various streaming services, etc. They are as greedy as Scrooge, but in the opposite direction. While he had to hoard every penny and could never have enough money, they have to hoard luxuries so that they can afford nothing else and then complain that someone else is keeping them from their dreams.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more