TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 10, 2015.
GREED
GREED
Excessive or extreme desire for wealth and possessions; covetousness.
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.
His watchmen are blind, they are 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.
How many times have you watched children who are being offered a cookie on a plate of many cookies? They will always look the plate over and pick the largest one. If they think no one is looking they will take two and possibly three. You may say that this is just what children do but the real facts are is that the adults do the same thing and the children watch. This is the beginning of teaching greed to our children.
All of us see greed surrounding us today. Friends and even family members are driven by greed. They always want more “things” and are never happy with what they have. Politicians, government leaders, work place owners, supervisors on down to the workers are driven by wanting more money and more things. They are never satisfied with what they have. This is greed.
Greed prevails not only in our worldly society but also in our churches. The three verses we have put above give us three illustrations about how greed affected people in biblical times. The first verse deals with Samuel and his two sons. The second verse deals with Israel and how they lost their way acting like greedy dogs and the third verse deals with false prophets in the early church.
Samuel was about 60 years old when he appointed his two sons as judges. There is no reference to be found in the scriptures that Samuel asked God for wisdom and guidance on whom to appoint. Although Samuel was a Godly man, his sons allowed greed to corrupt them and they began to accept bribes and pervert justice. Soon it was apparent that they were spiritually not ready for the responsibility. Greed happens in the best of families.
In the second verse the watchmen were the preachers of the day and their spiritual leadership was corrupted by greed. Isaiah called them 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 riches and pleasures of this world. Even preachers can succumb to greed.
These false teachers that Peter referred to took their eyes off the message of the cross and preached what people wanted to hear distorting all that Jesus is and all that Jesus taught. They were only interested in making money rather than teaching truth. These false teachers were very deceptive and spoke appealing and seductive thoughts, just as false teachers do today. They are motivated by greed.
These examples have been given to us as a reminder to stay true to the biblical message we know is truth and not let greed entice us to follow the teaching of false teachers that are all around us.
Our memory verse for this week is found in I Thessalonians 5:17.
Pray continually.
Help me and my family to keep our eyes open to the message of the cross and not to fall to the temptations of the world. Keep us alert to false teachers that want to lead us away from You. Help us to keep our greedy desires in check and put our total trust in You to supply our every need.
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