Greed (23-Oct-2005)
Greed October 23, 2005
(The sermon can be heard on line at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm )
Gordon Gekko the financial tycoon played by Michael Douglas in the movie Wall Street says at a stockholder’s meeting, “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed for lack of a better word is good. Greed is right. Greed works.”
Most of us would not say greed is good, but many of us would also hesitate to say greed is bad…
After all isn’t it good to aspire to get ahead financially and acquire the “good things” of life?
Most of probably wouldn’t not name greed in our top ten list of things to “work on.”
We talk about need to lose weight, exercise more, watch less TV, read certain books, pray, but it’s rare to say we need to work on being less greedy and giving away more.
A pastor I know on the East Coast did a series of breakfast talks on the 7 deadly sins and his wife asked if they were advertising the themes and the pastor said yes and she said, “I’ll bet when you speak on greed the attendance will drop.” It did. Why? Because don’t see greed as being an issue for them. Of the 7 Deadly sins greed may be one that people least detect in themselves.
Jesus during his ministry a great about spoke about greed and money and he addresses his subject in Luke 12:13.
If you have your Bibles please turn with me to Luke 12…
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
In the passage, a person approaches Jesus and asks him to ask his brother to divide the inheritance with him.
In this culture people often called upon rabbis to settle legal disputes. The eldest son typically received double what others would receive. The proportion of the inheritance was “fixed” so the plaintiff in this case had every legal right to receive his inheritance.
People in the crowd would have been waiting for Jesus to weigh in, but instead of chiming in on the side of one brother or the other, Jesus re-directs the conversation by issuing a warning…
Jesus says be on your guard against all kinds of greed…
A person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his or her possessions.
Watch out for greed, for a person’s life is not defined by what he or she has.
Possessions can have a kind of magical pull on our souls.
Charles Montgomery, a Vancouver based author, in his book the Last Heathen describes how “cargo cults” have sprung up in the islands of the South Pacific.
In places like Melanesia, “messiahs” have promised that if people obey their edicts they receive shiploads of untold riches: cigarettes, spam, rifles, and even jeeps.
Anthropologists have suggested the cargo brought by white people to the islanders were so shockingly different from what the islanders were used to that they thought that they must have come from the “gods.”
While we in North America would not argue that “things” come from the gods, “things” can have an astonishing sway over our souls.
This past week I read about a woman who was standing in line at an electronics store long before opening time to take advantage a big blowout sale which included on a limited number of heavily discounted VCRs. This woman said she wet herself in line because she didn’t want to lose her place by going to the washroom. This week, I read about a man who was in standing in line to buy a Macintosh computer that a school was selling off at ridiculously low prices and he bragged that he held his place line by beating others back with his umbrella.
Money has a kind of magical quality to it…
Money and things can takes on a life of their own, and can become a god substitute. This is why Jesus says you cannot serve both God an money, God and material wealth… both demand absolute allegiance…
Jesus describes money as a kind of substitute god, but it’s a god will never satifisy…
In his book The New Thing, Michael Lewis describes the rise of Silicon Valley by telling of the about the life of Jim Clark who started the internet bubble by creating the billion dollar companies Silicon Valley and Netscape.
When Clark began Silicon Graphics he told a friend all that he really wanted was $10 million. If he could just reach that level he’d be happy. Then, just before he started Netscape, he told one of his young engineers who helped him create his first company that what he’d really like to have is $100 million. Then he reached a personal net worth of $600 million, he said, “I just want to have a billion dollars after taxes then, I’ll be happy…
Donald Trump and a very poor man leaving on garbage dump in Manila were both asked, “How much money would it take to make you happy?” Trump said about 10% more than I’m making now and the man on the garbage dump about 10% more than I making now.
The Hebrew word for money (kesef) comes from a word meaning to desire or to languish after. Like chasing after the wind, our thirst for money can never fully satisfied.
Jesus says be on your guard against all kind of greed, your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions.
Money can become a false God that does not satisfy and can consume our entire our lives.
In Tolstoy’s unforgettable short story, “How much land does a man need?” Pahom, an ambitious peasant of central Russia is seeking a fortune east of the Volga River. A Bashkir chief offers him a deal he is eager to accept: 1,000 rubles for as much land as he can walk around in a day. Pahom sets out at dawn walking and would have gotten a rich estate. But for his greed for more and more land causes him to run and run and run… He does manage to return to his starting point before sunset, but only to collapse on the spot with blood trickling from his mouth. As Pahom dies, he sees the image of the chief turn into the image of the devil.
Not only does money and material possessions never fully satisfy, but the quest for these as things as Pahom’s life and the Rich Fool’s life in Jesus parable show us, can consume the one and only life on earth that we have.
Frederick Buechner’s ironic statement rings true: “There are people who use their entire lives making money, so they can enjoy the lives they have entirely used up.”
So, how do we deal with greed?
1) C.S. Lewis in his insightful sermon Learning in Wartime, says never in peace or in war, commit your virtue or happiness to the future.
We see that the rich farmer in Jesus’ parable commit his virtue and happiness to the future.
He says to himself, “I’ll go all out and make a mother lode of wealth now and then I’ll settle down and take it easy and enjoy life.”
People will commit their “happiness” to the future by saying things, like I’ll work really hard now and make my wealth and take it easy later.
People will say I don’t have time to take a day off right now or I can’t afford to take the time for a vacation now (according a recent article in the Vancouver Sun 40% of Canadians don’t take all of their vacation days).
God tells He has designed our lives around units of 7 days and all least one every 7 days we are to a mini-vacation from our regular work. Greed for money or grades or a lack of trust in God to provide can cause the command of God to honor the Sabbath.
People will say, “I’ll spend more time with my family and friends, when things settle down.” For most of us, things are not going to settle down for us, until they settle way down--about 6 feet underground.
People will commit their virtue to the future by saying I’ll be honest in my business, when I can afford to be honest…. Johnny Depp ways in the movie Blow, based on the true story of drug dealer George Jung says, one more cocaine deal and I’m done…
Lewis wisely says… “Never commit your virtue to the future.”
Some people say, I can’t afford to be generous now, but when I’m financially better off I’ll be generous then.
Every study shows that the more money people make the less people give away as percentage of your income.
According to study a reported in Time magazine if you make between 10-20,000 a year, your likely to give 5.2 percent of your income away, but if about 100,000 a year you’re likely only give 1.6 percent of your income away.
I was with a pastor in New York City who was telling me that there a young an MBA grad, he knew who was about $10 million a year in Manhattan (depending on how markets performed) and was giving away about 6-7 million.
This pastor and said when he was a poor student college, he learned to tithe the first 10 percent of his income to God, he got that his DNA then and so he continues practice now!
I speak at colleges and universities on the history mission. I often say the students, if you want a person of global impact… one most practical ways you can begin is by giving at the first tenth to work of God… you might give some to missions, your local church, some poor… You may only be earning $200 month working in a cafeteria, but there’s no better time than now to learn to learn to with your income.
Don’t commit your virtue to the future by saying, when I can afford to I’ll rest, I’ll take a vacation, I’ll spend time with family, I’ll be honest, I’ll be generous….
2) If you want to overcome greed, think ahead, much further ahead think in terms of eternity…
The rich farmer was thinking fairly far ahead… as he said to himself I’ll work really hard now, tearing down barns and storing my grain… I’ll wait for a drought and the grain prices to soar and when I’m fabulously wealth and I’ll take life easy and I’ll relax and enjoy…
He was thinking ahead, but not far enough ahead.
He was thinking only terms of this short life.
As undergrad, I remember take an economic class and part of the class involved picking certain stocks and tracking their performance.
Ever since then from to time, I’ve fantasized about being able to know what the markets would do just one day in advance… I could be rich without doing much!
I remember hearing a story about a business man visited by a genie and the genie said I’ll grant anything you want. The businessman said give a copy of the newspaper that will be published 6 months from now… man turned to business section and he discovered, “Oh this is how Microsoft stock will perform, this will be value of the dollar in 6 months against Euro, this will be the price of gold… He becomes giddy with excitement and he flips through the rest of newspaper causally and he turns to the obituary section… and he sees his picture and his bio… turns ashen…
There’s something about realizes your life is coming to end and meeting God face to face that helps you focus what’s really important in life…
When a person’s a terminal illness sometime they’ll say, I would have never chosen this but this is best thing that’s every to happened, because I now realize that matters in life….they become less driven more generous people with their time, love, and resources…
Dominic said, Death will kill a man, but the thought of death can save you…
At the risk sounding morbid, there’s something about looking at death… that gives us wisdom…
There’s something about looking at eternity… that us perspective…
There’s something about living life in light of the reality of God that gives insight…
God says to the rich you fool, tonight your life will be demanded of you… the word fool in this culture means that a person lives as if there is no God… The Bible the fool says in his or her there is no God…
You glean a certain kind by earning a Ph.D in philosophy at U.B.C. or McGill or Oxford… but the most reliable path to wisdom is live in light of our death, in light of eternity, and in light of the reality of God…
When we view our death and stare into fix our eyes on what is and unseen and eternal and on God… we will follow the words of counsel Jesus offers in the next sections. We will be generous people, especially to the poor… we will not hoard treasures on earth where moth, rust destroys and where thieves break in and steal, but we will store up for ourselves treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal and our hearts will be set on God, for where our treasure there our heart will be also…
3) If we want to overcome greed, we will not commit our virtue to the future, we think ahead, much further ahead--we live in light of eternity, and we will live the paradox of the Cross, we will live out the Gospel.
In vs. 21 God rebukes the rich farmer because he is stores up things for himself, but is not generous toward God.
Some of us think that the Gospel is only about Christ dying as a sacrifice on the cross so that our sins can be deleted.
The Gospel is not just about forgiveness, but about a new way to live. The Gospel shows us that life comes through death, rebirth comes by letting go…
It’s only as we let go of our youth (when it’s time to let go our youth) that we can be blessed in a new, richer season of life… It’s only as we let go of certain dreams that weren’t meant be, that we experience unique life God intended for, it’s only as let go a certain idea of God, that we experience the real God….
The way of Jesus Christ is not the way of clinging protectively to something, but the way of letting go…
Have you ever met someone who clings to everything they own?
If that person was your roommate, they drew a line down fridge, and explained that’s my mustard, and mayonnaise, though shall not touch…
If that person was a colleague when an opportunity came around to donate to cancer research, that person thought giving 5$ would a waste of money…
That’s not the way of Jesus Christ… the way of Jesus Christ believes that through giving we receive…
Two weeks ago, I was New York City ago to speak at leadership seminar and at the Sunday morning services a church. One night I was with a friend in New York City and we got talking about giving…
He said, it’s a miracle that we were able to get a home in New York City (prices of homes are seem to be little more than Vancouver, true if you adjust for the exchange rate).
He said (about 15 years) ago, I was making $23,000 (which even if you adjust for inflation and the exchange rate isn’t a lot of money. They had two kids and were soon to have a third. They were renting the basement suite of home, and the owner’s grandmother lived upstairs. The grandmother who lived upstairs was failing physically, my friend and his family would voluntarily check in on her and do what they could to care for her.
When the owners wanted to sell the house, they wanted my friends to buy it. My friends said, we cannot afford it. We don’t even have money for a down payment. We’re not eligible for a mortgage. The owners said you’ve been so kind to our grandmother, you’ve treated her like you were related her like she was part of your family, and we want to sell you the house… the owner said here’s what we’re going to do, instead of charging you rent, we want you to save your rent money until you have enough for a down payment that will qualify you for a mortgage. So they save their for a couple years and that along with a great selling price my friend was able to buy in New York City on a very modest income…
My friend, said we believe in giving. We tithe in our income, and give about 80% percent of extra money through kind of side work we’re involved in because we can live off our income…
We are not rich, but we don’t worry about money… we believe God provides… we don’t give in order to get, but we believe as we give God will provide…
I’ve recently been in contact with retired couple… who’s recently been told by their financial advisor, that their investment income is going run out in the not so distant future… This couple… isn’t stressed… They always given generously to work of God, they have this abundant sense of peace that the God who has always provided for them will do so in the future…
I can’t explain logically, but theologically… in the words of Jesus who said… in the next section of Luke 12:31 (and in Matthew 6:33) as if seek first his Kingdom, all these other things will be added to you…
In the parable Jesus taught if we cling to our life, we will eventually lose it. If seek first the world eventually we lose God and the world. But, if we seek first God we will get God and we get the world too.
Let’s take a moment to pray… pray one these questions…
Are clinging to your life or is release to God?
Are you thinking of wealth in terms this life or eternal wealth?
One day, day going to stand before that God. Are we living in such a way that you'll be ready for that moment?
(The sermon can be heard on line at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm )
Gordon Gekko the financial tycoon played by Michael Douglas in the movie Wall Street says at a stockholder’s meeting, “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed for lack of a better word is good. Greed is right. Greed works.”
Most of us would not say greed is good, but many of us would also hesitate to say greed is bad…
After all isn’t it good to aspire to get ahead financially and acquire the “good things” of life?
Most of probably wouldn’t not name greed in our top ten list of things to “work on.”
We talk about need to lose weight, exercise more, watch less TV, read certain books, pray, but it’s rare to say we need to work on being less greedy and giving away more.
A pastor I know on the East Coast did a series of breakfast talks on the 7 deadly sins and his wife asked if they were advertising the themes and the pastor said yes and she said, “I’ll bet when you speak on greed the attendance will drop.” It did. Why? Because don’t see greed as being an issue for them. Of the 7 Deadly sins greed may be one that people least detect in themselves.
Jesus during his ministry a great about spoke about greed and money and he addresses his subject in Luke 12:13.
If you have your Bibles please turn with me to Luke 12…
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
In the passage, a person approaches Jesus and asks him to ask his brother to divide the inheritance with him.
In this culture people often called upon rabbis to settle legal disputes. The eldest son typically received double what others would receive. The proportion of the inheritance was “fixed” so the plaintiff in this case had every legal right to receive his inheritance.
People in the crowd would have been waiting for Jesus to weigh in, but instead of chiming in on the side of one brother or the other, Jesus re-directs the conversation by issuing a warning…
Jesus says be on your guard against all kinds of greed…
A person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his or her possessions.
Watch out for greed, for a person’s life is not defined by what he or she has.
Possessions can have a kind of magical pull on our souls.
Charles Montgomery, a Vancouver based author, in his book the Last Heathen describes how “cargo cults” have sprung up in the islands of the South Pacific.
In places like Melanesia, “messiahs” have promised that if people obey their edicts they receive shiploads of untold riches: cigarettes, spam, rifles, and even jeeps.
Anthropologists have suggested the cargo brought by white people to the islanders were so shockingly different from what the islanders were used to that they thought that they must have come from the “gods.”
While we in North America would not argue that “things” come from the gods, “things” can have an astonishing sway over our souls.
This past week I read about a woman who was standing in line at an electronics store long before opening time to take advantage a big blowout sale which included on a limited number of heavily discounted VCRs. This woman said she wet herself in line because she didn’t want to lose her place by going to the washroom. This week, I read about a man who was in standing in line to buy a Macintosh computer that a school was selling off at ridiculously low prices and he bragged that he held his place line by beating others back with his umbrella.
Money has a kind of magical quality to it…
Money and things can takes on a life of their own, and can become a god substitute. This is why Jesus says you cannot serve both God an money, God and material wealth… both demand absolute allegiance…
Jesus describes money as a kind of substitute god, but it’s a god will never satifisy…
In his book The New Thing, Michael Lewis describes the rise of Silicon Valley by telling of the about the life of Jim Clark who started the internet bubble by creating the billion dollar companies Silicon Valley and Netscape.
When Clark began Silicon Graphics he told a friend all that he really wanted was $10 million. If he could just reach that level he’d be happy. Then, just before he started Netscape, he told one of his young engineers who helped him create his first company that what he’d really like to have is $100 million. Then he reached a personal net worth of $600 million, he said, “I just want to have a billion dollars after taxes then, I’ll be happy…
Donald Trump and a very poor man leaving on garbage dump in Manila were both asked, “How much money would it take to make you happy?” Trump said about 10% more than I’m making now and the man on the garbage dump about 10% more than I making now.
The Hebrew word for money (kesef) comes from a word meaning to desire or to languish after. Like chasing after the wind, our thirst for money can never fully satisfied.
Jesus says be on your guard against all kind of greed, your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions.
Money can become a false God that does not satisfy and can consume our entire our lives.
In Tolstoy’s unforgettable short story, “How much land does a man need?” Pahom, an ambitious peasant of central Russia is seeking a fortune east of the Volga River. A Bashkir chief offers him a deal he is eager to accept: 1,000 rubles for as much land as he can walk around in a day. Pahom sets out at dawn walking and would have gotten a rich estate. But for his greed for more and more land causes him to run and run and run… He does manage to return to his starting point before sunset, but only to collapse on the spot with blood trickling from his mouth. As Pahom dies, he sees the image of the chief turn into the image of the devil.
Not only does money and material possessions never fully satisfy, but the quest for these as things as Pahom’s life and the Rich Fool’s life in Jesus parable show us, can consume the one and only life on earth that we have.
Frederick Buechner’s ironic statement rings true: “There are people who use their entire lives making money, so they can enjoy the lives they have entirely used up.”
So, how do we deal with greed?
1) C.S. Lewis in his insightful sermon Learning in Wartime, says never in peace or in war, commit your virtue or happiness to the future.
We see that the rich farmer in Jesus’ parable commit his virtue and happiness to the future.
He says to himself, “I’ll go all out and make a mother lode of wealth now and then I’ll settle down and take it easy and enjoy life.”
People will commit their “happiness” to the future by saying things, like I’ll work really hard now and make my wealth and take it easy later.
People will say I don’t have time to take a day off right now or I can’t afford to take the time for a vacation now (according a recent article in the Vancouver Sun 40% of Canadians don’t take all of their vacation days).
God tells He has designed our lives around units of 7 days and all least one every 7 days we are to a mini-vacation from our regular work. Greed for money or grades or a lack of trust in God to provide can cause the command of God to honor the Sabbath.
People will say, “I’ll spend more time with my family and friends, when things settle down.” For most of us, things are not going to settle down for us, until they settle way down--about 6 feet underground.
People will commit their virtue to the future by saying I’ll be honest in my business, when I can afford to be honest…. Johnny Depp ways in the movie Blow, based on the true story of drug dealer George Jung says, one more cocaine deal and I’m done…
Lewis wisely says… “Never commit your virtue to the future.”
Some people say, I can’t afford to be generous now, but when I’m financially better off I’ll be generous then.
Every study shows that the more money people make the less people give away as percentage of your income.
According to study a reported in Time magazine if you make between 10-20,000 a year, your likely to give 5.2 percent of your income away, but if about 100,000 a year you’re likely only give 1.6 percent of your income away.
I was with a pastor in New York City who was telling me that there a young an MBA grad, he knew who was about $10 million a year in Manhattan (depending on how markets performed) and was giving away about 6-7 million.
This pastor and said when he was a poor student college, he learned to tithe the first 10 percent of his income to God, he got that his DNA then and so he continues practice now!
I speak at colleges and universities on the history mission. I often say the students, if you want a person of global impact… one most practical ways you can begin is by giving at the first tenth to work of God… you might give some to missions, your local church, some poor… You may only be earning $200 month working in a cafeteria, but there’s no better time than now to learn to learn to with your income.
Don’t commit your virtue to the future by saying, when I can afford to I’ll rest, I’ll take a vacation, I’ll spend time with family, I’ll be honest, I’ll be generous….
2) If you want to overcome greed, think ahead, much further ahead think in terms of eternity…
The rich farmer was thinking fairly far ahead… as he said to himself I’ll work really hard now, tearing down barns and storing my grain… I’ll wait for a drought and the grain prices to soar and when I’m fabulously wealth and I’ll take life easy and I’ll relax and enjoy…
He was thinking ahead, but not far enough ahead.
He was thinking only terms of this short life.
As undergrad, I remember take an economic class and part of the class involved picking certain stocks and tracking their performance.
Ever since then from to time, I’ve fantasized about being able to know what the markets would do just one day in advance… I could be rich without doing much!
I remember hearing a story about a business man visited by a genie and the genie said I’ll grant anything you want. The businessman said give a copy of the newspaper that will be published 6 months from now… man turned to business section and he discovered, “Oh this is how Microsoft stock will perform, this will be value of the dollar in 6 months against Euro, this will be the price of gold… He becomes giddy with excitement and he flips through the rest of newspaper causally and he turns to the obituary section… and he sees his picture and his bio… turns ashen…
There’s something about realizes your life is coming to end and meeting God face to face that helps you focus what’s really important in life…
When a person’s a terminal illness sometime they’ll say, I would have never chosen this but this is best thing that’s every to happened, because I now realize that matters in life….they become less driven more generous people with their time, love, and resources…
Dominic said, Death will kill a man, but the thought of death can save you…
At the risk sounding morbid, there’s something about looking at death… that gives us wisdom…
There’s something about looking at eternity… that us perspective…
There’s something about living life in light of the reality of God that gives insight…
God says to the rich you fool, tonight your life will be demanded of you… the word fool in this culture means that a person lives as if there is no God… The Bible the fool says in his or her there is no God…
You glean a certain kind by earning a Ph.D in philosophy at U.B.C. or McGill or Oxford… but the most reliable path to wisdom is live in light of our death, in light of eternity, and in light of the reality of God…
When we view our death and stare into fix our eyes on what is and unseen and eternal and on God… we will follow the words of counsel Jesus offers in the next sections. We will be generous people, especially to the poor… we will not hoard treasures on earth where moth, rust destroys and where thieves break in and steal, but we will store up for ourselves treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal and our hearts will be set on God, for where our treasure there our heart will be also…
3) If we want to overcome greed, we will not commit our virtue to the future, we think ahead, much further ahead--we live in light of eternity, and we will live the paradox of the Cross, we will live out the Gospel.
In vs. 21 God rebukes the rich farmer because he is stores up things for himself, but is not generous toward God.
Some of us think that the Gospel is only about Christ dying as a sacrifice on the cross so that our sins can be deleted.
The Gospel is not just about forgiveness, but about a new way to live. The Gospel shows us that life comes through death, rebirth comes by letting go…
It’s only as we let go of our youth (when it’s time to let go our youth) that we can be blessed in a new, richer season of life… It’s only as we let go of certain dreams that weren’t meant be, that we experience unique life God intended for, it’s only as let go a certain idea of God, that we experience the real God….
The way of Jesus Christ is not the way of clinging protectively to something, but the way of letting go…
Have you ever met someone who clings to everything they own?
If that person was your roommate, they drew a line down fridge, and explained that’s my mustard, and mayonnaise, though shall not touch…
If that person was a colleague when an opportunity came around to donate to cancer research, that person thought giving 5$ would a waste of money…
That’s not the way of Jesus Christ… the way of Jesus Christ believes that through giving we receive…
Two weeks ago, I was New York City ago to speak at leadership seminar and at the Sunday morning services a church. One night I was with a friend in New York City and we got talking about giving…
He said, it’s a miracle that we were able to get a home in New York City (prices of homes are seem to be little more than Vancouver, true if you adjust for the exchange rate).
He said (about 15 years) ago, I was making $23,000 (which even if you adjust for inflation and the exchange rate isn’t a lot of money. They had two kids and were soon to have a third. They were renting the basement suite of home, and the owner’s grandmother lived upstairs. The grandmother who lived upstairs was failing physically, my friend and his family would voluntarily check in on her and do what they could to care for her.
When the owners wanted to sell the house, they wanted my friends to buy it. My friends said, we cannot afford it. We don’t even have money for a down payment. We’re not eligible for a mortgage. The owners said you’ve been so kind to our grandmother, you’ve treated her like you were related her like she was part of your family, and we want to sell you the house… the owner said here’s what we’re going to do, instead of charging you rent, we want you to save your rent money until you have enough for a down payment that will qualify you for a mortgage. So they save their for a couple years and that along with a great selling price my friend was able to buy in New York City on a very modest income…
My friend, said we believe in giving. We tithe in our income, and give about 80% percent of extra money through kind of side work we’re involved in because we can live off our income…
We are not rich, but we don’t worry about money… we believe God provides… we don’t give in order to get, but we believe as we give God will provide…
I’ve recently been in contact with retired couple… who’s recently been told by their financial advisor, that their investment income is going run out in the not so distant future… This couple… isn’t stressed… They always given generously to work of God, they have this abundant sense of peace that the God who has always provided for them will do so in the future…
I can’t explain logically, but theologically… in the words of Jesus who said… in the next section of Luke 12:31 (and in Matthew 6:33) as if seek first his Kingdom, all these other things will be added to you…
In the parable Jesus taught if we cling to our life, we will eventually lose it. If seek first the world eventually we lose God and the world. But, if we seek first God we will get God and we get the world too.
Let’s take a moment to pray… pray one these questions…
Are clinging to your life or is release to God?
Are you thinking of wealth in terms this life or eternal wealth?
One day, day going to stand before that God. Are we living in such a way that you'll be ready for that moment?
posted by Shigematsu at 6:35 PM
1 Comments:
Greed is the selfish desire for or pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. It is generally considered a vice, and is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism.
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