Greed: May 6, 2013

Today's Word for Monday May 6, 2013

GREED

DEFINITION:

Excessive or extreme desire for things; covetousness.

SCRIPTURE:

Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes and perverted justice. I Samuel 8:1, 3

Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, and they are all dumb dogs. Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. Isaiah 56: 10-11.

They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray. II Peter 2:14.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

It is interesting to watch children when a plate of cookies is being served. They will look the plate over carefully and select the largest cookie. If they think no one is looking they will take two or possibly a handful. We can say that that is just what kids do, but unfortunately, it is not just children that are greedy.

All around us we see greed today. Many people have family members that are driven by greed. They always want more "things" and are never happy with what they have.

We see the same greed in politicians, our government leaders and in the work place among owners, supervisors and workers. Unfortunately, we sometimes listen to people in church that are professing believers and comments of greed come from their mouths. Greed prevails not just in our "worldly society" but also in our churches.

The three verses that we have written above give us three illustrations about how greed affected people in Biblical times. The first verse listed deals with Samuel and his two sons. The second verse deals with Israel and how they lost their way acting like greedy dogs. The third verse above deals with false prophets in the early church. 

Samuel was about 60 years old when he appointed his sons as Judges. As we read in the verse above from I Samuel, his sons allowed greed to corrupt them. We learn that Samuel, although he was a godly man, was human just like us and he put his sons in positions where they were to have spiritual authority.

As so often happens, when people have power they use their position of authority for personal gain. Greed is the motivating factor in most cases. Greed caused Samuel's sons to "accept bribes and pervert justice" to satisfy their excessive desire for riches. Thus, Israel no longer had the spiritual leadership that Samuel had given Israel in the past. As a result of the greed of Samuel's sons, the elders of Israel rebelled against the evil sons and demanded that Samuel give them a king.

Isaiah, in the verse we have written above, describes the watchmen of Israel as blind and dumb dogs who were greedy and never had enough. These blind watchmen were the preachers of the day and once again the spiritual leadership was corrupted by greed. Isaiah called them dumb dogs because under their leadership Israel turned from God and forfeited all God's blessings. They were like dumb dogs that could not bark, which means they did not preach the truth or warn the Children of Israel about the false doctrine.

Most false teaching is based in greed and appeals to our sinful nature's desire for the riches and pleasures of this world. In II Peter (above), Peter was warning the believers about false teachers that were living among them. These false teachers were not only greedy but they were trained in greed. They took their eyes off the message of the Cross and preached a perverted teaching that contradicted all that Jesus is and all that Jesus taught.

Those that followed these false teachers, Peter said, would be unable to cease from sin. These false teachers were very deceptive and spoke appealing and seductive thoughts, just as false teachers do today. Peter warns us to stay true to the message of the cross and not to let greed entice us to follow the teaching of false teachers.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 1:6.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

Help my family today to keep our eyes open to the message of the cross. Help us not to fall to the temptations of the world we live in and to the false teachers that want to lead us away from God. Help us to recognize the greedy desires of our own hearts and turn away from them. May our hope and trust be completely in You this day.