Being Greedy

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BEING GREEDY

Eph 5:3-7

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.   6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

NIV

Why would greed be right after sexual immorality and impurity as improper for God’s holy people? Is God that concerned about whether we are a little greedy? As we look into the Greek word pleonexia, we see this greed is not limited to money, although money is something that many people have this greedy desire for more, but covetousness can be applied to everything in life, but that desire to have more of some material thing, drives the desire for more money so we can buy that which we want more of. When we use the word greed it does have this negative connotation especially within the church. Before becoming a believer we would have thought nothing about having the desire to always wanting more. But this lust for more, this desire to have more whether in the material sense, or in an positional sense is improper. That is always wanting more out of life, more education, more titles, more and more recognition is a form of greed. But for the most part, it would be applied toward the desire for more things. We have to ask ourselves if there is something that we always covet. On the other hand, we wonder if just living close to the vest, so to speak, that is not giving of our resources to those in need, or at least someone in need, would be a form of greed, wanting to keep all that we have to ourselves for our own benefit or enjoyment. We also wonder if this can not only apply to us personally as believers, but as a whole body, that is within the church. We have witnessed over the past years within several churches who play their finances close to the vest, in fact, always wanting a bigger bank account, storing up money for some project in the future, that may never come to fruition. We have heard statements such as, “we cannot afford to do this, or pay for that, because it could deplete the savings account”. We have heard it said that we have to see how much money we can raise for this project, or that expense, but never ask the question, “What does God want us to do?” Many church and personal decisions are based on the real current money issue rather than hearing from God, then believing He will provide the resources for the expense of whatever He has directed us to do. We cannot allow greed to affect our choices or decisions. Sure, we are to be wise, but that wisdom cannot be driven by human thought, but it must be driven by the wisdom of God, and we are told if we lack any of that wisdom, we simply need to ask God, and He will give us His wisdom liberally, without finding fault. Simply put, let us not allow greed to be a part of our lives, for that is improper for us as God’s holy people.