GREED

• DAY 243
• FAITH FILE: GEHAZI
• SCRIPTURES: 2 KINGS 5:20-27

But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.” So Gehazi pursued Naaman... Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’ ” So Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him. When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed.

Most people hear the word greed and think of rich people who still want to get rich. We think of that person who has so much more and yet still keeps trying to acquire more, while others are suffering. We rarely think that people who don’t have the finest things in life can be greedy as well. Someone can be greedy when it comes to food, clothes, money, relationships, position, etc. But today, we won’t think of anyone, instead, we will try to examine ourselves.

You can be greedy about anything because greed is an excessive desire to acquire and have more than you necessarily need even at the expense of others or yourself. It can be so easily missed because it’s a thin line between desiring to have the fine things of life and being greedy; between wanting to keep improving in life or going from one level to another and being greedy. So it can be easily missed by all of us. The Bible says in the book of Luke that we should be on guard against all kinds of greed.

Greed is Fear

And the thing is greed is an expression of fear – fear of lack or that we won’t have enough, and sometimes, fear of missing out, or fear of not being valued. This makes us want to accumulate things and hoard, the insatiable nature inherent in the flesh shows it’s ugly head. Remember the great tissue debacle of 2020, as people rushed to stores to buy more tissues than they had ever used just because they were afraid. As a Nigerian living in Nigeria, the filling station around you should paint a good picture of greed. The way they hoard fuel because of fear of scarcity or price hikes so that they can sell at a higher price. Truly greed is not so difficult to spot.

Greed thrives where contentment and trust are absent. It starts with taking thought of what to eat and drink and seeking to fill that need first, at any cost. Gehazi was such a man. He focused on what he could get over what was right before God. Think of how far he went to get what he wanted. He was offended by his boss for not taking a reward from a rich man. He disobeyed his boss and went after Hamaan and then he lied and when he got what he wanted, he hid it from Elisha.

Greed 101

There are ways that you can tell greed in yourself (because we are not talking about somebody, we are talking about you). First, watch it when you can’t let something go. You could do without that thing but you have to get it no matter what because you feel like you deserve it. You deserve that extra plate, that person’s money, or that position; so you go to any length to get it. The second thing to watch out for is stinginess. You find it hard to part with what you have or give without overthinking or complaining.

Another thing to watch out for is a lack of boundaries. Greedy people don’t have a limit. They don’t have a stopping place they continue to push and continue to go.

Greedy people are focused on themselves. They are not concerned about what God’s will is concerning that thing. And even if they are, they will take God’s will a little step further than where God has asked them to stop. Greedy people are manipulative in their requests. They want to get more of your attention so they manipulate you to get your attention. They want to get more food so they make up some excuse that satisfies their conscience to get more of that thing. Whenever you see that you have expectations and desires beyond necessary, you begin to walk in the line of greed.

You see how these principles sound very similar to what we call striving and pushing forward for things today. See why it is a thin line?

It Will Cost You

Greed will always take from you. As you try to acquire more, parts of you will be lost in the process. For Gehazi, his decision cost him his health and that of his generation. And for most of us, our decisions cost us good relationships, our devotion to God, a focused mind, etc.

My prayer is that I will not have a heart that is overtaken by greed. That I’ll be content with what God has given me. And I pray that same prayer with you. I’m not going to get to a particular point where I begin to feel like I have to go through some corners in order to get some things for myself. Instead, I will be content. In Jesus name

Shalom