by jimwalton » Tue Jan 02, 2024 1:41 pm
Greed shows up in a couple dozen places in the Bible, always creating conflict and undermining morality, trust, and integrity.
The cure for greed is a sense of community. When we realize that we are part of a group of people who love each other and take care of each other, there’s less a sense of “gimme” and more a sense of “How can I help you?” Greed is mostly a blasphemous form of injustice, claiming the good gifts of God for ourselves while ignoring the obvious reality that gifts bring the most joy when they are shared.
Warnings against greed are expressed many times in the Bible because greed enslaves, while service liberates. Ironically, we feed our greed to get rich, but it’s community that really enriches. While we think money will set us free, it so easily consumes us that we don’t even realize we’ve been swallowed alive.
We used to play a game. Hand out stacks of play money to everyone in the room. The first phase of the game is “Give away as much as you can.” What ensues is a frenzy of laughter and joy. Money is flying everywhere. There is no fear in giving it away, because others are filling your hands as quickly as you can empty them. Stop the game and change the rules: Now “Get as much as you can.” The tenor of the room changes dramatically. Expressions change; there is no more laughter. People hide, protect, try to escape. People attack and grab. There is no trust and no joy.
Life works best when we live like a covenanted clan instead of a mob of mephitic misanthropes. When we say “enough is enough” we are also saying, “I consider somebody else’s interests as just as important as my own” (Phil. 2.4).
Greed shows up in a couple dozen places in the Bible, always creating conflict and undermining morality, trust, and integrity.
The cure for greed is a sense of community. When we realize that we are part of a group of people who love each other and take care of each other, there’s less a sense of “gimme” and more a sense of “How can I help you?” Greed is mostly a blasphemous form of injustice, claiming the good gifts of God for ourselves while ignoring the obvious reality that gifts bring the most joy when they are shared.
Warnings against greed are expressed many times in the Bible because greed enslaves, while service liberates. Ironically, we feed our greed to get rich, but it’s community that really enriches. While we think money will set us free, it so easily consumes us that we don’t even realize we’ve been swallowed alive.
We used to play a game. Hand out stacks of play money to everyone in the room. The first phase of the game is “Give away as much as you can.” What ensues is a frenzy of laughter and joy. Money is flying everywhere. There is no fear in giving it away, because others are filling your hands as quickly as you can empty them. Stop the game and change the rules: Now “Get as much as you can.” The tenor of the room changes dramatically. Expressions change; there is no more laughter. People hide, protect, try to escape. People attack and grab. There is no trust and no joy.
Life works best when we live like a covenanted clan instead of a mob of mephitic misanthropes. When we say “enough is enough” we are also saying, “I consider somebody else’s interests as just as important as my own” (Phil. 2.4).