“Beware! Guard against every kind of greed” (Luke 12:15)
Christmas is coming and that means some of my favorite holiday movies will appear on the screen that sits in my great room. I like all of them. I enjoy the story lines, the wintery scenes, and especially the yuletide music. Though I must confess that my favorite Christmas movie is Scrooge. I enjoy all the versions that depict the old miser, but my choice adaptation of the Dicken’s tale is the 1970 musical with Albert Finney. Don’t know why, but somehow for me that particular film captures the essence of Scrooge. Someone who is greedy and unconcerned about humanity. Scrooge becomes a character whose thirst for more sucks him into a vacuum of self-absorption. He is the persona of why Christ warns us in Luke 12:15 to “guard against every kind of greed.”
Sadly, the thirst for more is not limited to a grouchy penny-pinching skinflint like Scrooge. Let’s be honest, we all struggle with wanting more. Probably all of us must admit there is something more or new we desire right now. Just fill in the blank –
“I want a new __________________.” Is it a bad thing to want something new? Something more? Something better than we have right now? Personally, I don’t believe so. New and better things can make our lives easier. I remember when microwaves first came out, I told myself I neither needed nor wanted one of them. Now, I can’t get along without mine.
So when do our wants for more turn into greed? What causes us to want more in the first place? What makes us believe we need more? Do we really need something bigger, better, more improved in order to enhance the quality of our lives – or the lives of our family? Do we actually need all those gadgets on our car in order to be safer? Is it imperative that we have that new $1,500.00 IPhone 11 Pro? What are the real answers to these questions?
Does the drive for more stem from greed, or is it rooted in something else? Here’s my opinion on that. I believe the problem is NOT that we want more. I believe the problem, whether we realize it or not, is that we are dissatisfied with everything this world has to give us. We obtain more of what the world offers, but are never truly fulfilled.
The remainder of verse 15 in Luke 12 tells us that, “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Not real life. Not the quality of life God wants to give us. Perhaps the real reason we are not satisfied, is because we’re looking for the wrong things in the wrong place.
Darlene
“Beware! Guard against every kind of greed” (Luke 12:15)