Monday the 23rd

Luke 12: ¹⁵Then 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."

 

I know that this is something that comes up a lot, but when I read the headlines, look at the world around me, and listen to my co-workers….and honestly to myself…..I know that this is something that we all struggle with. It must have been a pretty big problem back in Jesus’ day, because He felt the need not just talk about it, but to make it a point to warn people. WATCH OUT! Be on your guard……..that is a pretty clear to me that something is going to happen, temptation is right around the corner. Now here is a point I feel is important to point out. Greed in the NIV is covetousness in the KJV, and the oldest text I have is the Bishops Bible from 1568 which uses the word couetousnes (they were not big with using the letter V) Strong’s dictionary shows the original word used in the Greek text to be pleonexia

pleh-on-ex-ee'-ah  that is, (by implication) fraudulency, extortion: - covetous (-ness) practices, greediness.  So at the heart of the matter is not just the feeling that we all struggle with (hey, I want that) it is allowing that feeling to turn into an action, an action that will take you on a path further from God. You might think that you will never allow that to happen, but let me be the first to say that Christ is correct, Watch out, and be on guard. The opportunity will present itself. The first job I ever had where I was purchasing things with company money the temptation came up often, ever since that day of the first offer, others have continued to arise. To some extent it is a temptation that we all face from time to time. The ability to get something, to attain status, or to further our goals, by way of fraudulency, or extortion……. greed, as we know it today, can be a tempting mistress. The pile of toys that we could amass are fun to have. There is a reason we are warned against it….like most things in life the easy way pays well in the short term. I know I could have made quite a bit of money taking the easy way, I have known men in high positions that have taken the easy way. I have worked with many people in many companies, that took the easy way. All of them had one thing in common….what started out as” just this once”, turned in to a lifestyle of corruption, and I can honestly say in each case I know of, it ended poorly. We come into this world with nothing more than the life that we were given by the grace of God, when we leave, the only thing we will take is the soul given to us. The time in the middle will determine the condition of that soul. There is a reason Christ used the image of storing up our riches in heaven. It is the polar opposite of the greed He was talking about. So take heed, watch out, and be on guard. The scales of justice are weighted in your favor, for Christ is on your side, but “just one” can quickly turn in to “just until I get ___” and the scales tip quickly when Christ steps off.  HE will never leave you, but if you choose to walk alone, and balance your own scales, He will let you do just that.

 

God bless,

Briane will never lea