It’s not just a modern day epidemic. People have always been afflicted with this insidious disease. Amazingly, in our culture, people are applauded for having a bad case of this sickness, this sin.
GREED.
We live in one of the most materialistic cultures of all time. Marketing firms spend billions of dollars every year to convince the masses we are unsatisfied with what we have, so we’ll buy their new and improved product. Being bombarded daily with these messages of discontent makes it almost impossible to fight off this deadly disease. Almost.
Certainly, God has the answer for us. Randy Alcorn, after working through the hundreds of verses on the subject of money crafted this simple principle that cuts right through all the Ad Campaigns.
Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
Striving to GET will never satisfy. Check out these words from the wisest, wealthiest man who ever lived, Solomon. It’s found in Ecclesiastes 5:10-12:
“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.
As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?
The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.”
Getting doesn’t satisfy, but giving does. Read these powerful words from Martin Luther:
“I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”
What are you bringing to place in God’s hands this weekend for our special EPIC offering?
Prayer thought:
Only if you are ready, pray and ask the Lord for some conviction. Invite the Spirit to take inventory and to begin speaking into any areas that might need correction. Spend some time on that conversation with Him. Then, make a list of “things” you are grasping so tightly that your hands are cramping. Now, release them. They weren’t yours anyway and now your hands are free to do His work.
