25th November, 2010

LLOYD HARKNESS

The taunt - "Greedy guts. Greedy guts. Greedy guts."
The creed - "Greed is good."
The idiom - "The more you get the more you want."

We know the lines, whether they stem from childhood archives or explorations on film.

PICTURE: Max Romersa (www.sxc.hu) "(The Bible) speaks of the dangers of becoming lovers of money of being aroused by the desire for wealth. Arousal seems to be at the heart of greed."

Greed...One of the seven deadly sins.

But is it? Is it deadly? I mean...really?

In a Western world, where the focus of life is drawn to attaining a certain lifestyle, do we still think of greed as lethal?

We recognise greed in extreme cases of grafting and consumption, of clamouring and pushing aside. Beyond that do we still see greed, do we recognise it?

You do not have to go all Gordon Gekkoish to believe a little wanting this and that helps fuel the work ethic and stimulates the economy. So how do we assess greed and its effect?

The Bible certainly has its price index, its share value, and its bankable view on greed.

It speaks of the dangers of becoming lovers of money of being aroused by the desire for wealth. Arousal seems to be at the heart of greed.

What is it that arouses us, which stirs us, which motivates us? Of all the options and directions in life Jesus said people will basically choose between money (mammon) and God. We will be aroused by one or the other. Our focus will be one or the other.

Greed lurks and slinks about feeding on our need for security, our desire for success, our love for money and its purchasing power. Greed fuels a love of something deemed more precious than God. Greed is Gollum.

Consequently we need to deprive greed of its ability to arouse. The Bible says be ‘dead to sin’, which more pointedly for this Word piece means be dead to greed.

Jesus tells us He has the deadener which will do the job. He can inoculate us. The serum, in text speak is LOL. No, not laughing out loud, although it does not hurt to dismiss greed’s advances. The LOL Jesus speaks of is Lots of Love.

He says immerse yourself in loving God with all your heart, mind and strength, and loving your neighbour as yourself, and you will build up your immune system against not only greed but all forms of vices.

Without a strong immune system we will find greed is lethal. Without a strong immune system we are quickly numbed to the realities of life not encapsulated by the dollar.

Jesus said life is about giving not getting, sharing not having. What you acquire shows the mettle of who you are and the Bible clearly states a man is no fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. The challenge is to acquire the things we cannot lose.

The pursuit of money has the capacity to block God out of the picture. It’s an arousal that sends you blind, blind to the glory of a creator Father, a redemptive Son and an illuminating Holy Spirit.

The Bible is very explicit about some aspects of greed.

1. Greed can draw in those in positions of power. Even elders are warned to steer clear of using their office for financial or other gains.

2. People can grasp for more and become cruel in the process. Being exploitative is not usually the starting place but greed can take you there. Some will accumulate on the back of others.

3. Covetousness is the desire to take what is not yours. It is a grabbing for the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for what is out-of-bounds and should not be pursued for the sake of all parties. Covetousness is a dimension of greed.

4. Greed has two faces. It can be grasping but it can equally be miserly or stinting. Not releasing, not passing on is simply another form of grasping.

5. Greed has the capacity to produce all forms of dishonesty.

6. Greed has the capacity to produce arrogance.

7. Being overly ambitious can fuel greed.

8. Greed is self-seeking.

9. Greed is an unseemly and unbecoming arousal. (Now that is a couple of good ye olde world words.) Greed is an unfitting way for a person to behave. It is just not how God made us to be.

The Bible has other relevant pieces of advice too. Two examples are:
• Be satisfied with what you have today and skip on worrying about tomorrow.
• Develop your business along the lines of ‘God if you are in this then...’ rather than ‘I am going to...’. (This applies to our whole life also.)

Having a love of God focus, the ‘serum’, is a good place to finish this Word piece. Besides if I continue on the editor might deem me greedy on word length, which in turn takes us back to our idiom of just wanting that bit more.

   FOR MORE OF THE WORD click here...