Greed, Generosity, & the Gospel

I know very few people who aren't greedy. Greed is a such a widespread epidemic it's hard to see sometimes. Also, because only the grossly greedy get the attention, it's easy to think of yourself as not greedy; or least, not as greedy as "that guy." But when it comes to money, possessions, and lifestyle, do you find yourself seeking to acquire more, being stingy with what you do have, being overly anxious, being fixated on the bottom line, or living as a workaholic to achieve or maintain a perceived "successful" lifestyle? If so, greed has got you.

The problem with greed boils down to trust. There is a misplaced trust in money, stuff, and a way of living that is supposed to provide a sense of comfort and security. And even deeper still, it's a very selfish problem as the only comfort and security you're worried about is your own, not really anybody else's. A life marked by greed will end up being destroyed. A constant personal dissatisfaction and discontentment will make you miserable, and if anything bad happens to your bank account, your whole sense of self is lost. Relationally you'll end up alone. People at best will use you (if your greed has equated in some type of prosperity) and at worst people will hate you and avoid you (because you only care about yourself and no one else).

How can you get rid of greed? You have to root it out and replace it. You must replace it with generosity. A generous person genuinely seeks the welfare of others first, gives as much as they can, and most importantly, has their trust rightly placed. This rightly placed trust is actually the way you root out greed, and the way you do that is by believing the gospel of Jesus.

Jesus, who is God, was ultimately generous. He left his throne in heaven, totally humbled himself out of love, and gave up everything so we could have everything. Tim Keller writes that "if he stayed rich, we would die poor; but if he died poor, we could become rich." Paul writes of Jesus' generosity and ties it directly to financial giving (being generous) in 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 and 2 Corinthians 9:12-15. As we live worshipful, generous lives, that must express itself in how we use the money that God has blessed us with (since all the money in the world is his anyway - Haggai 2:8).

So they key to getting over your greed is not just to try harder to be more giving, but instead to place your trust in Jesus, who gave up everything and gives everything to those who love him back.