Living in the Spirit
July 30, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ –Luke 12:13-15

Our society, perhaps the world, is experiencing an epidemic of greed, which I believe will be our downfall if we do not implement the cure for it. It is a disease as old as time itself. Was Abel’s offering better than Cain’s? Should a mother’s favored son get the inheritance?

The prophet’s ranted against greed. Jerimiah said in Jerimiah 6:3,
For from the least to the greatest of them,
   everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
   everyone deals falsely.

Our scripture today quotes Jesus speaking about greed.

Greed is insidious. It creeps into all our lives in bits and pieces until it gains control. It is when we cross over the line placing greed as the driving force in our life that we cannot seem to escape it. The need for more grows greater than our need for God—more money, more power, more control.

The power of God’s love in and through us is the only antidote to greed. When we truly accept God’s love our need for more vanishes. When we share our love with others, we recognize that everyone having enough grows to be as important as any of us having more.

Prayer: Lord, fill my soul with your love so that there is no room left for greed and let my love be the source of everyone having enough. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.