Warning – Greed Entraps!
Then he said to them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because a man’s life is not measured by how many possessions he has.” Luke12:15
An old bumper sticker proclaimed, “The man who dies with the most toys wins!” It very accurately fits with the warning that Jesus gives us in our verse today. The devil knows how entrapping the idea of getting more is. It worked with Eve and the bogus promise that he made at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. “You will be like God,” he promised. Satan tried it again when he paraded all the kingdoms of the world in front of Jesus and promised him that it could all be his, he just needed to worship him.
When God gave the Ten Commandments he included at least three commandments against greed: The Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments. The world with all its alluring treasures has a strong appeal to us.
Our possessions are a blessing from God, but they are never to replace God. Social standing, earthly wealth, and the comfort that abundance can bring can easily become the most important part of life. But what has the man who dies with the most toys really gained? There are no u-hauls attached to the hearse.
If we measure our possessions as a sign of God’s approval, what does the lack of those possessions say about our standing with God? Even when God sees fit to allow our possession to be gone, there is a much greater need. One of our hymns puts it well: “All depends on our possessing God’s abundant grace and blessing, though all earthly wealth depart. They who trust with faith unshaken in their God are not forsaken and e’er keep a dauntless heart.” (Christian Worship 807)
Lord Jesus, thanks for the many blessings, even the ones that I question. Amen.