Living in the Spirit
September 22, 2016

Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. –1 Timothy 6:6-10

Does your faith go to work with you? There are some business owners who make the news for refusing to serve certain people because of who they are or do not participate in health insurance that pays for birth control for their employees. Both seem to me to be instances of requiring others to follow one’s faith. What happened to integrity in doing business when we do not follow our faith? When did turning every penny into profit override customer service? What became of the pride of quality workmanship? Announcements of recalls fill the news. Software companies foist “new and improved upgrades” that consumers beta test for them on the fly as the companies try to beat out the competition. Software upgrades render hardware obsolete long before it loses its functionality. And now one of the largest banks in America is fined for enrolling customers in services that they did not request but earned fees for the bank. Oh, and yes, the bank’s response was to fire the front line workers who did the dirty work for them.

Greed is epidemic in our land. It is the way of doing business. Greed always starts in the hearts and minds of individuals but rapidly grows as we ignore each other’s greed to ease the guilt of our own avarice. Greed is a sin and as with all sins, it will eat each of us from the inside out unless we recognize it for what it is and elicit God’s forgiveness and grace to help us overcome it. History also demonstrates that greed has contributed to the fall of great nations. Read the Bible book of Amos.

Prayer: God of Justice, I fear we are all guilty of greed. Make us aware of the difference in greed and productive gain. Forgive us when greed overcomes us and heal our souls. Amen.

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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.