What Does Greed Mean?

 

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.” (Luke 10:15)

 

What is greed?

Greed is defined as, “intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.” It’s when we always feel like we want more of something, even though we already have enough. When we let our minds dwell on our feelings of greed, we are choosing not to recognize that what God wants for us is better than what we want for ourselves.

What does this mean for me?

You’ve probably heard of FOMO, which is being afraid that you’re going to miss out on something if you don’t do it right now. This could look like rushing to get a video game that just came out or grabbing the last snack from the counter because your brother might take it. In short, FOMO is the feeling that something about your life won’t be good unless you get the thing that you want.

Greed is a lot like what we call FOMO because it’s a strong desire for something that we feel like we need to have right now. We’re not talking about wanting a snack because you missed lunch and you’re really hungry. We’re talking about wanting to take all the snacks because you might be hungry later, even if it means that someone else doesn’t get one. Philippians 2:3 says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” This doesn’t say that we shouldn’t eat when we’re hungry; it simply means that we shouldn’t believe that we deserve the last snack more than someone else does.

The Bible says that God will provide for us (Matthew 6:26), so we shouldn’t be worried that we won’t have what we need. Acting on greed (and FOMO) tells God that we don’t really believe He’ll take care of us. We’re saying, “I know you gave me what I needed earlier, but what if you forget to take care of me later?”  We’re also acting like we know what we need or what will make us happy better than He does.

What do I do if I don’t like this?

It’s not wrong to want food when you’re hungry or a game to play when you’re bored. What is sinful is constantly thinking about how much you want those things. Everything you think about takes up space in your brain. When all we think about is buying video games or eating more snacks, we don’t have enough room left to think about God. When we don’t think about God and what He wants, it becomes impossible to DO what He wants!

Conclusion

God is the ultimate caretaker. He is willing and able to provide everything that we need (and some things that we want)! One reason that He takes care of us is because He loves us and He said He would. However, another reason is so that our brains can spend time thinking about doing good things for Him instead of worrying about not having enough. Our purpose is to serve Him so that others can see how much He loves them too. This means that our minds need to focus on what He’s asking us to do, not on what we think we should have.

 

Prayer

We are told to walk like Jesus (1 John 2:6), which means that we ask God to help us make the choices that honor Him. One of those choices is to be content with what we have, which can be really hard. Thankfully, God hears us when we ask Him to help us do what’s right.

 

Father, thank you for always providing for me. Thank you that I will always have enough. Help me to be satisfied with what you offer me and to never be consumed with greed. Help me to always think about you first so that I can understand how to show others how good you are.