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Greed, In Other Words
Despite the claim of the big-screen movie character Gordon Gekko [Wall Street], "…that greed, for lack of a better word, is good," and despite the claim of popular TV minister Joel Osteen, "If you want success, if you want wisdom, if you want to be prosperous and healthy, you’re going to have to do more than meditate and believe; you must boldly declare words of faith and victory over yourself and your family," [Your Best Life Now, p. 132], greed is not a favorable character trait in anyone, much less one who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
With that said, I've never heard any professing believer come right out and say, "I think being greedy is acceptable to God," but I have heard many phrases coming from the mouths of professing believers throughout my life that state, in other words, that holding on to whatever money they have and not willing to share it is acceptable — even 'wise' or 'prudent.'
To clarify, greed is defined in modern dictionaries as an 'excessive…desire, especially for wealth or possessions.' It may be a desire for more than what one has, such as seen in the statement of the wise writer when he said, “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase” (Eccl. 5:10), or it may be one who already has abundance, but who is hoarding it up for self and not sharing or even caring about those in need, such as seen in the foolish rich man, whose land “yielded plentifully,” but only thought to “pull down…barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods” and sit back and enjoy it all for himself while sharing none (Luke 12:16-21). In each of these cases, there was an excessive desire for money or possessions: greed.
Now, none of us is probably guilty of tearing down barns and building bigger ones to hoard our possessions, but maybe we are closer to the foolish rich man than what we might want to admit. How so? Let me first set up a few basic principles taught in Scripture, and then let us see how we fail to live up to them, and then how we add to our failure by adding a measure of greed to it — most often not in ways or words we would equate with the definition of greed.
First, the principle of sharing our money and possessions with others in need. This is so basic, it almost needs not be mentioned, but for clarity's sake, we will do so. First, Jesus did not limit the bounds of our generosity towards the needy, commanding, “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away” (Matt. 5:42). Notice there is no restriction on the recipients of our help? Jesus said, “him who asks you,” and this simply means our help is not limited to brethren. [The context speaks of borrowing, not permanent giving, but Luke's record (Luke 6:32-35) speaks of doing good, looking for nothing in return, so giving may certainly be included.]
Second, we are also compelled by the love of God to help out our brother in need, when we see his need and have the ability to help, as John notes in 1 John 3:17, 18.
Finally, we must be willing to trust in the Lord to provide for our own needs when we have opportunities to give to others in need. The basic root of this is in seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33), but it is also seen in Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians that they need not worry about meeting their own needs while helping others, trusting that God would provide abundantly for all (2 Cor. 9:8-11). Now, of course, giving to others must not be done to the degree we cannot support our own families, either; Paul reminds us, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). We don't make ourselves needy in helping others who are needy (cf. 2 Cor. 8:13, 14). [Despite this, the impoverished Macedonians found a way to give above and beyond their ability!]
With all this said, let us now consider how we sometimes expose our greed, while we may not even realize it.
Storing Up An Abundance. According to the latest figures I could find, the US has over 2.63 billion square feet of rentable storage space, with 9.65% of households renting space regularly. That may not sound like many, but that is an increase of 75% since 1995. While houses are getting bigger, on average, so is the storage space for our extra 'stuff.' We aren't building bigger barns, but the fact our storage space is increasing tells me we are buying and holding onto more and more material possessions.
Just the cost of renting these spaces, not including the value of the items stored, is enough to help someone out on a regular basis, so are we really that much different than that foolish rich man? And if we are holding onto material possessions that could be sold [we obviously are not using these things], are we really any different than the rich, young ruler, who sorrowed at the idea of having to part with his material possessions and give the proceeds to the poor? Greed.
Arbitrary Judging of One's ‘Worthiness’ of Our Help. Sometimes, when we hear of one in need, we all of a sudden demonstrate a strange habit of finding all kinds of reasons why we shouldn't help. They made poor choices with their money, so why should I help? Can I guarantee they will use it for only needs? How do I know they won't use it to buy drugs or alcohol?
Do this: Read through the examples in the New Testament record of Jesus healing the sick, and count the number of times He healed someone only after determining their ‘worthiness’ of Him healing them. What you will find is…zero. Jesus didn't do good only to those He knew would 'use it wisely,' or would never get sick again, or would be guaranteed to serve Him forever afterwards. That wasn't the purpose of Him doing good, and it is not the purpose of our doing good, either. We do good to those in need because they have a need and because we are striving to let our lights shine in the hopes “they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16), but whether they will or not does not guide us. Greed.
We Are 'Just Being Wise With Our Money.' I understand the need to be wise and prudent with the funds we have — believe me, I do. I have lived both above and below the poverty line [even as a preacher], but I never saw how that correlated to our willingness to help others. Again, the Macedonians were in “deep poverty” (2 Cor. 8:2), but found a way to give beyond their ability; if they can, why can we not? We use this as an excuse far too often when we have much more ability to give than those Macedonians and, frankly, we need to quit making excuses because that is all this is — an excuse. If we really worry about whether or not we will have enough left over if we should help out another in need, do we really trust that God will provide, or not? Remember what an excessive desire to hold onto money and possessions is called? Greed.
We could probably extend this list for another page or two, but let these be sufficient to show that maybe we are not as honest with ourselves as we would like to think when it comes to the matter of money and possessions. But we can do better, right? We can always learn to trust God more often, and help others more often. —— Steven Harper
