Tag Archives: greed

Greed Is Killing Your Love Life

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Ana and I are still working our way through YouVersion’s Love and Marriage Reading Plan. It is a fantastic way to rekindle our love for one another and recenter our relationship on the One who gave us love!

ANCIENT WISDOM FOR TODAY

Colossians 3:1-3

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Earthly things have a tendency of getting in the way of romance. When Ana requests more quality family time from me, I bristle because that would interrupt the hard work I have to do to provide a “better life” for the family…and get more goodies for me. When she asks to have a say so in our future, my calendar, or our money, my selfish reaction is to get defensive and hold back because that’s my stuff. My dreams! My time! My money!

I’m willing to be you’ve got your goodies in mind, too. Having possessions is good, as long as they don’t possess you. If the pleasures or treasures you’re chasing every day are getting in the way of your relationships with God and your family, get rid of them.

Here’s the fresh idea for you today. “Set your mind on things above…” Start with these simple steps:

  1. With your spouse or family, talk about the earthly things that you are pursuing that get in the way of family.
  2. Ask God to give you a desire for what He desires.
  3. Schedule down times where no work is allowed, and the whole time is to be spent being with loved ones. No rat race. No hoarding.

With these fresh ideas, you’re on your way to freedom and passionate romance!

The Cure for America’s Greed

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In President Obama’s State of the Union address last week, the concept of greed was touched on as one of the barriers we face to realize the dream of an America Built to Last. Wealthy Americans (the President noticeably placed himself in that category) are allowed to use a plethora of tax breaks and advantages resulting in them paying a lesser percentage of their wealth than others. The way to an “America Built to Last” (Really, an American government built to last. I personally don’t see them as one and the same. Obama, of course, does.) is to take away those tax breaks and tax them in the same percentage as everyone else.

Underlying the very nice sounding “fair share, fair cut” phrasing, is the accusation that greed is the motivator for taking advantage of those tax breaks and that we need to eradicate the greed of rich Americans through taxes. I guess that’s one way of dealing with the problem. Jesus took a different angle.

In a picture similar to ascending a mountain to speak to the lonely guru, Matthew 19:16-22 tells the story of a young man who asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life. The young man has kept the entire Law of Moses since his youth. He’s blameless. This is what Jesus said.

  Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus didn’t minimize the young man’s sincere devotion to the commands of God. He was doing a fantastic job. But he wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t whole, mature, ready for eternal life.  He said his intention was to get to eternal life, but his desires were all down here in this life.

Jesus says sell it all, give it to the poor, and you’ll have treasure in heaven.

The young man didn’t  want treasure in heaven. He wanted it here. Thus, his greed keeps him from inheriting eternal life.

In this exchange, we see a different outlook on greed than what we typically hear in our world. We hear that rich people are greedy, business people are greedy, bankers are greedy, landowners are greedy, politicians are greedy. But according to this definition…

We all are greedy. At least those of us who would rather have treasure here than in heaven.

The cure for America’s greed? A paradigm shift from the present, temporal life we’re in to the eternal life in heaven. When someone begins to think this way, generosity is the result.

Why the Rich Aren’t Greedy

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…well, at least why being rich doesn’t mean you’re greedy.

We’ve been working through a series on finances. We’ve looked specifically at debt, greed, and God’s way out of financial bondage. Last week, I sat and watched President Obama’s State of the Union speech.

Guess what! He talked about greed. And he gave his answer to this American epidemic. Tax the rich more. Everyone gives their fair share, everyone gets a fair cut.

While I’m all for everyone supporting our national government by paying their taxes, I do have problems with this tactic. It presupposes that high income people are greedy, and that lower income people are not. Somehow, if I earn less, I am paying my fair share, but if I earn more, I’m not.

Sure, do the tax reform thing. But let’s not confuse wealth with greed and poverty with humility.

Greed is a state of mind. It is the inordinate desire for possessions. Greed speaks of wrongful desire, not the possession of things. God Himself owns everything in this universe, yet He is not greedy.

So, while we go about reforming taxes or choosing a new President, let’s not be greedy in the process.

Scientific Hypothesis States that Women are Greedier than Men

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Recently, I found an article in Psychology Today giving science’s best offerings on the origins of greed and materialism. Here are some of the highlights of modern thinker’s thoughts on where greed comes from.

gender differences

Women are the source of greed in our world because as we evolved through the eons, the females of our species seek wealthy powerful males to mate with. They are naturally self-seeking and materialistic. But only for the good of the human race.

But wait! There’s current evidence that demonstrates how men are greedier than women. But that’s just because they have to appease the materialistic requirements of gold-digging females if they wish to engage in procreative activities (A desire, incidently, that exists in a surprising amount of males.).

personality effects

There are some personalities more prone to greed than others. In particular, those “with a greater disposition to be affected by their emotions” are greedier than emotionally stable people.

childhood environment

Those who grew up in a lower income household tend to be more materialistic. Those who grew up with everything they want never need to acquire more things. So, the poor are stuck with greedy dispositions.

I’m no psychologist. But I’ve got some misgivings about the speculations put forth here.

Number one–Sex.

I’ve met plenty of greedy women. And I’ve known a fair share of greedy men. You might as well lump me in with that number. My guess is that you, dear reader, have met greedy people on both sides of the gender fence.

As far as personalities are concerned,

to say that greed stems from genetics is to absolve people of responsibility for their greedy actions. Sorry, if you’re neurotic, than you’re destined to be materialistic. It’s not your fault. Please, don’t let us stop your irresponsible spending, extravagant living, and extortion of innocent people. We know you can’t help it, poor dear.

What a load of HOGWASH! (I’ve always wanted to write that word in public.)

Lastly, childhood environment.

I don’t think this is the issue, either. Personally, I’ve met greedy rich people and generous poor people. And vice versa.

An even better, philisophical reason I don’t think greed comes from poor childhoods is the fact that if this is true, than the only cure for greedy poor people is more greed. To get out of poverty, by definition, one must acquire wealth. If being greedy is the desire and acquisition for more things, than the only way out of poverty is to do everything you can to get enough things to satisfy your greedy desire. According to this theory.

Weird. Cyclical, really.

What do you think? Why are we greedy? How do we get out of being greedy?

Kill the Monster!

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So yesterday was a hard look at ourselves and the monster that is in our backyard. My fried, Ray, commented on last week’s blog post that we can’t demand that the government live within their means when we citizens do not do so. In the same way, we can’t insist that coporate executives, government personas, and the rich live ungreedy, generous lives when we have no intention of doing so.

The monster is in our backyard. And it’s closer to destroying us than we think.

Check out this story about a greedy farmer, who didn’t think that he was greedy. As soon as he sat back and began to dream of how he was going to spend his massive wealth on himself, God informs him that his life will be over that evening.

Now some may say that God killed the man as a punishment for his greed. I personally read it that the man was going to die that night anyway. It was his time to go. He didn’t know it, and all he had to show for his life was his possessions.

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” — Jesus

What if you knew when you were going to the other side? What if it were tonight? What would you have besides your possessions?

None of us live life thinking that we are greedy. But if we were to die this evening and had nothing to show for our lives but our things, I think we are guilty.

This year, it’s time to free ourselves from debt! It’s time to slay the monster of greed and live happily within our means. Come with me, brothers and sisters!