Greed... Ooooo... one of the seven deadly sins. Whatever that term even means…
Greed
I've been doing a lot of self-reflection lately and greed is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. When we consider the word “greed”, I think a lot of us picture something like the monopoly man sitting on a mountain of cash. Or Ebenezer Scrooge hording wealth and paying his employee so little that his family is on the brink of ruin.
But what about someone like me?
Or not necessarily me, but any number of young people who are facing a great deal of uncertainty as they head out into the world. People like me are think we’re wise to be frugal, but that can keep us from giving to others. We can hoard our limited wealth just as well as any rich bogeyman you can think of. We may say that we’re too poor to be charitable. We’ll think twice before giving change to a homeless person, dropping an envelope in the offering plate or contributing money to a friend in need.
Is that just self-preservation? Is that greed?
Disclaimer: I'll be writing this piece from a Christian perspective. If that turns anybody off, you're free to leave. But I would encourage you do stay. Even if you don't believe in God or the Bible, you may find something valuable in this blog post.
All scripture passages are presented in the English Standard Version (ESV).
The Story of the Rich Young Ruler
I'll begin by sharing a very familiar story from the Bible.
Mark 10:17-25
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Here's the short version because I'm sure some people won't feel like reading all that: A rich man approaches Jesus and asks how to get to heaven, Jesus says to keep all of God's commands. The man replies that he has done so. Jesus tests him by telling him to go sell all of his possessions to the poor. The man went away sad because this revealed the sin in his heart, he valued his possessions more than other people, more than God.
It’s difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Those are Jesus' own words.
The bible doesn’t tell us what exactly it means to be rich. Is it a 6+ figure salary? It doesn’t say what amount of wealth qualifies as "rich". That makes it easy for us to think, “well, this passage isn’t about me. It’s about that other guy.”
So who is are the rich Jesus talking about? The Bible never condemns property ownership, so it wouldn't follow logically that owning a certain amount of anything is inherently sinful. Earthly possessions are not sinful. They don’t bar you from the Kingdom.
What Does the Bible Say About Money?
When measuring Scripture against Scripture (as one should always do when studying the Bible) we get a much more clear picture about God's attitude toward money and wealth. Here are a few examples.
Proverbs 11:28 - Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
Proverbs 28:22 - A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him.
Proverbs 28:25 - A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 - He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
Matthew 6:24 - “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Luke 12:15 - And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
1 Timothy 6:6-10 - 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
There are some obvious common themes in these verses:
- It's not possessions that are at issue. It’s the heart.
- The rich often fall into the trap of trusting in their own wealth rather than trusting in God. It’s easy to feel like you don’t need a saviour when you have your life put together.
- Even a poor person can have the heart of a "rich" man.
And as John Calvin once said, our hearts are idol factories: if we don’t love God, we will love something else. We will make money and security our idol and we will do whatever it takes to serve that master. These warnings aren’t exclusively leveled at those who have already achieved material wealth, because wealth itself isn't the problem. The sin comes when we decide to put ourselves above God and above other people.
So let's go back to my question at the beginning about the way that people in my situation sometimes think and behave:
Is it greed or is it self-preservation?
I don't know if there's an easy, clear-cut answer. God calls us to be wise with what we have been given, but it can be such a fine line. As soon as we’re trusting in our own ability to secure our own livelihood we’ve fallen into sin and out of trust in God. As soon as our love of our own wealth or security becomes too great we've fallen into the sin of neglecting the needs of others.
It's easy to justify selfishness by just saying, "I need to be frugal."
So yes, more often than not, more often than I care to admit, it probably is greed. I often have the heart of a rich man who thinks he can pull himself up by his own bootstraps and doesn’t need help from anyone. A man who pretends he can't afford to help others while at the same time thinking he doesn’t need help from God.
I'm a greedy person and I need to stop.
~Seth
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