SIN

Part 3 -- GREED

HOW CAN GREED BE RECOGNIZED AND CONTROLLED?

GREED IS OFTEN PRESENT BEHIND AMBITION.
Moses spoke again to Korah: Now listen, you Levites! Does it seem a small thing to you that YHVH of Israel has chosen you from among all the people of Israel to be near Him as you serve in Adonai’s Tabernacle and to stand before the people to minister to them? -- Numbers 16:8-9 Moses saw through Korah, Dathan, and Abiram’s charge to their true motivation -- some of the Levites wanted the power of the priesthood. Like Korah, we often desire the special qualities Elohim has given others. Korah had significant, worthwhile abilities and responsibilities of his own. In the end however, his ambition for more caused him to lose everything. Inappropriate ambition is greed in disguise. Concentrate on finding the special purpose Elohim has for you.

GREED OFTEN ACCOMPANIES PROSPERITY.
YHVH your Elohim will soon bring you into the land He swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is a land filled with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, be careful not to forget Elohim, Who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. -- Deuteronomy 6:10-12. Moses warned the people not to forget Elohim when they entered the Promised Land and became prosperous. Prosperity more than poverty, can dull our spiritual vision, because it tends to make us self-sufficient and eager to acquire still more of everything -- except Elohim. Instead of leading to contentment, prosperity can just as easily lead to greed. The same thing happens in many churches today Once we become successful in terms of numbers, programs and buildings, we can easily become self-sufficient and less sensitive to our need for Elohim. This leads us to concentrate on self-preservation rather than thankfulness and service to YHVH.

GREED CAN BE CURED BY HUMBLE RELIANCE UPON GOD.
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn’t it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask Elohim for it. -- James 4:1-2. The cure for evil desires is humility -- see Proverbs 16:18-19; 1 Peter 5:5-6. Pride makes us self-centred and leads us to conclude that we deserve all we can see, touch or imagine. It creates greedy appetites for far more than we need. We can be released from our self-centred desires by humbling ourselves before Elohim, realizing that all we really need is His approval. When Ruach HaKodesh fills us, we see that this world’s seductive attractions are only cheap substitutes for what Elohim has to offer.