Money and Stuff: Don't be greedy

Don’t act as if money is everything. When you have enough, don’t be dissatisfied. Don’t cling onto your surplus (Luke 12:16-21). Don’t be so narrowminded and shortsighted. Don’t think only of yourself and only of now. You are not the most important person in the world. Humble yourself before God and he will lift you up. He is not a cruel, pennypinching God trying to deny you. Do not set your sights so short – there is an eternity of riches to look forward to. Don’t be like “an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea."1

If you are greedy or envious you will become an ugly person. You will walk over other people to serve yourself. You will take your eyes off God. You will fail to care for the poor. (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

If you are greedy or covertous you are playing a dangerous game. It is not possible to serve both God and money. You will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13) If you continue in this path you will not inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Of course you should be thankful if riches come your way, and you should enjoy them, for they are good. But do not let them be your master. Don’t pant and strive for them. Seek spiritual riches, long for heaven, be content with enough and be generous with what you have been given.


1 C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1965), 1-2 from J. Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Inter-Varsity Press, 2003), 20