093018: Greed

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, [and] which has been withheld by you, cries out [against you;] and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous [man;] he does not resist you.
James 5:1-6 (NASB)

Hymn: "I've Got Confidence" Andra​é Crouch

In light of God's promises to provide for our needs and the work He has called us to do, greed is a major affront to His character. Greed is not a problem merely because it feeds sinful behaviors, such as theft and manipulation and occasionally murder, but because of what it says of God. To hold, and especially to act on, greed is to declare that you know what you need and how to get it better than God does. This is a denial of the goodness, the faithfulness, and the knowledge of God, and an idolatrous elevation of self.

God consistently thwarts the will of those who seek their own benefit. As noted in James above, and stated multiple times by Jesus, those who put their stock in earthly treasures and power will have the fullness of their reward in this life, and even that may fall away before their very eyes. When the people complained in Numbers 11 that they wanted the fish of Egypt rather than the miraculous food God Himself had provided for them and them alone, He reminded them of His power by delivering prophesy through the elders before letting the greedy among them die of plague as soon as their mouths touched the meat they sought. When Herod planned to kill Peter in order to gain more favor and power with the Jewish leaders of the day in Acts 12, God miraculously led Peter out of the prison in a way that showcased how little power Herod really had against Him. 

It is more important to God that we have what we need to reflect His glory to the world around us than that we be comfortable or have all that we desire. We must never lose sight that God knows what He is doing, that He is not slack on His promise to provide, and that we can never do better for ourselves than He does. Let us seek after His kingdom and righteousness rather than our desires and greed, and trust that Jesus was serious when He promised that all other needs would be handled.