Based on Luke 12:13-15
MEMORY TEXT: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).
What are you willing to do for $10,000,000? Two-thirds of one group polled would agree to at least one, some to several, of the following:
Would abandon their entire family (25%)
Would abandon their church (25%)
Would become prostitutes for a week or more (23%)
Would give up their citizenships (16%)
Would leave their spouses (16%)
Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%)
Would kill a stranger (7%)
Would put their children up for adoption (3%)
This is the result of greed. Greed means an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth. Another word for greed is selfishness.
And don’t think that it’s just the rich people who are greedy. Greed is an attitude. One of the challenges of people in homeless shelters is to keep what little they have from being stolen by another homeless person.
One day one of Jesus’ listeners asked Him a question that was both selfish and trivial. After sharing a serious discussion on the serious challenges that the future held for them, “one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13).
This listener had just heard Jesus preaching to the multitude and His earnest rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees; and he noticed that Jesus spoke with such command and authority that nobody would dare to argue with Him. Surely, he thought, Jesus could shame his brother into being more fair minded with him.
It must have been a source of great disappointment to Jesus to realize that the spiritual truths He had been sharing so earnestly had not taken hold on this man’s mind and heart. Gaining the inheritance was all he could think about. That’s the way it is with greed.
What’s on your mind and heart today?
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