Scripture

“Thus the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your seed forever.”

~1 Kings 5:27, LSB

Quote

When it comes to greed, we all claim exemption.

~William Wilberforce

In over 50 years of serving churches, and I have had only one young man confess the sin of greed. It is a sin that we are all guilty of and yet few confess it. There is a greedy little person in all of us. We are born with this cursed nature that is vain and self-centered. This is why we think more about ourselves than we do anyone else and that includes our spouse, children and even grandchildren. I know when push comes to shove, you are going to put others first but I am talking about your mind and what you think about most? Have you ever said or done something stupid and you thought about it for days? Do you think about your appearance? Do you think about what others think of you? Do you think about your sins, faults and blemishes? All this thinking is centered on you or in my case me. You will never get any kind of victory over this greed bug until you admit it is rooted in our fleshly nature.

Here is my point: do not allow greed to take root because if you do, it will take control of your life. It is like a clinging vine; like kudzu or wisteria, it will possess you and pull you down. You’ll be taking about “my” money, “my” house, “my” land, “my wife”, “my” children and guess what: none of these things belong to you. You don’t have one thing that is not a gift from God. Your mother gave you birth, your daddy gave you a name and God gave you breath. The breath in your lungs is not yours: it belongs to God and He can take it anytime he chooses. Are you obsessed with keeping your money? Are you pre-occupied with getting your fair share? Shame on you. You are inviting misery into your life. I have never met a happy miser. Greed will destroy your health. It will do to you what rust does to metal. It is a cancer. Gehazi was Elisha’s administrative assistant. Elisha refused to take money from Naaman the Syrian general because he wanted to teach Naaman grace, but a Gehazi was so infected by greed that he followed Naaman and got himself some new clothes and more silver than he could carry. Elisha questioned him when he returned and he lied again. He had already lied to Naaman. Elisha said, “Because you were greedy, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your seed forever.” In an instant, Gehazi became a leper.

Why are you worrying about the LORD’s money, land and house? Once you understand that nothing is yours, you will stop worrying about how you are going to keep it. I going to preach on this soon so I don’t want to use all my fodder but understand this: greed is worse than leprosy. Leprosy affect the body, but greed is a sickness of the soul. You pray that no one around me uses the term “My money” the rest of this week because if I hear that one more time, I may go off and trust me I am capable.

Extra

The LORD is good and that is a fact. We have wonderful cloud cover this morning and yesterday was cool compared to the weather last week. THANK YOU JESUS! Hot dry weather depresses me. The kids got us a new pellet grill for their dads birthday. I had abused the old one. I didn’t take care of it as I should and it didn’t last long but Big Mama is making sure this one stays clean. We are having our Labor Day family reunion Sunday evening and I am doing chicken. I am looking forward to a Holliday. We all need something to look forward to, amen! I hope you have a great day.

GRACE POINT family: Pizza Roma tomorrow night at 6:00. This week we are in Psalm 147.

Extra/Extra

Most rich or well to do people have one thing in common: they think that others are after their money. What they don’t understand is this–We don’t want their money because we are afraid of the attitude that goes with it. We enjoy a freedom they don’t understand. Given the choice between money and contentment, peace and happiness–I will take contentment, peace and happiness any day of the week and twice on Sunday.