The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor.
He coveteth greedily all the day long:
but the righteous giveth and spareth not.
Prov. 21:25, 26
When we envision the greedy, what is the image that comes to our mind? Are you like me with a picture something like Scrooge McDuck swimming gleefully through mountains of money in his vault? That is the picture I have in my mind from my cartoon watching days. Or maybe those were my children's cartoon watching days, I'm not sure. Nonetheless, that is the image the word greed conjures up. Or maybe it is of the idle wealthy reclining back in lavish opulence while some snobbish servant caters to their every whim. Either way it involves one with excess of wealth. Not the poverty stricken. Yet if we read the verses above, the writer alludes to the fact that the slothful can be greedy. I'm not sure about you, but I've yet to know one lazy rich person. Now, don't misunderstand me. I've come across idle people who had money. It most likely came from the hands of another, though. They inherited it, or won it, or had a fortunate windfall, but over the course of time if they maintain their lazy ways the money has a way of dwindling down to a bare minimum. It takes hard work to keep wealth. It may not be manual or physical labor, but I guarantee you Donald Trump, or Bill Gates, or anyone with a large empire to watch over is a busy person, and if they are negligent or slothful they will not sustain their wealth for long.
If you doubt me, listen to what God has to say:
The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing:
But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
Proverbs 13:4
The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold;
Therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing.
Proverbs 20:4
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep;
And an idle soul shall suffer hunger
Proverbs 19:15
I have a pretty basic principle which I tend to live by: I believe God. These are not punishments handed down by God, nor pronouncements of doom or judgments, just cause and effect observations. Laziness will result in you losing what you have. What does this have to do with greed? Simply this: we are not exempt from it just because we have little, and in fact may become more prone to it because of having less.
We tend to think of greediness as being limited to those with much in the way of material possessions, like our mental images we mentioned earlier. In reality, though, we can be greedy over much more subtle things. What is it that we cling to jealously? What do we clutch tightly and guard vigilantly? It can be our time, our privacy, our homes. For some it is deeper: our emotions, affections, honest feelings. For others still it even seems noble when we guard our families, children and spouses. But when we look at what we are guarding these things against, it takes on a different look. For example, what happens when God asks you to yield something to Him? What happens when your plans and God's plans collide?
Recently, I was brought to a place in my life where I was forced to evaluate my own greediness in light of God's liberality to me. It was humbling and devastatingly eye-opening. Face-to-face with God, I saw where I had drawn a line in the sand of my life. Had you asked me, I would have told you everything I had was His, I would hold nothing back. But in those tearful, honest moments alone with Him, He showed me what I was holding tightly in my clenched fists. And when I laid it out next to what He had sacrificed for me, it was paltry and pale in comparison.
When I look at where I am, who I am and what I have to look forward to in my future, I know it is all because of what Jesus did for me on Calvary. When I consider where I ought to be, who I could be and what my future should hold for me, I can't think of one thing in my life I hold dear and precious that compares to what was done for me. What sacrifice could He ask of me would be too much? What do I hold in my tightly clenched fists that is worth saying 'no' to the one who has given me so much? Where is there room in my life for greed? When I finally opened my hand to Him and released what was in all honesty His already, I felt peace and His comforting arms. Do I believe I won't have to have this conversation with Him again? I'd like to think not, maybe just a gentle reminder. But I'm not vain enough to believe that I will never falter or struggle with my natural human emotions. Gratefully His grace is boundless and endless, and He is patient beyond my human failings. And He loves me so.
Do you want to hear the greatest irony? The element that man for so long, in so many different cultures, based their monetary system upon; gold, that we hold so precious and value so highly, have sought, and fought for, killed over and warred over, God is paving the streets of Heaven with. Imagine: what women have sold their bodies for, men slit others' throats for, kingdoms fell for lack of and the Bible declares the love of is the root of all evil, God will one day show us the true value of by allowing us to spend the remainder of eternity walking upon. We have counted it great gain, He considers it no more than cement or concrete. So what does He count as great gain?
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
I Timothy 6:6
Oh to be content and godly at the same time, indeed that would be great gain. In the verses following, Paul goes on to tell Timothy that the rich fall into a trap, that riches tend to suck them in and keep them from following after Godly things. He tells Timothy to flee these things. But then he gives Timothy some great counsel, he gives him some things to follow after instead. I love it when someone does that. When you tell a child, for instance, that such and such is not a good thing to have in their life, give them a decent and viable substitute. And that is what Paul did for Timothy. Read on:
For the love of money is the root of all evil:
while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things;
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness.
I Timothy 6:10,11
There is a viable substitute for greed: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness. If I pursue these, seek these and follow after these, then maybe, just maybe, I can do away with the greed and stinginess that naturally permeates my life. If I practice daily these attributes, there may not be room in my life for greed. There certainly is no need.
