CONQUERING GREED
Today’s Reading: 1 Timothy 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 6:17 Version CEV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+6%3A9-10%2C1+Timothy+6%3A17&version=CEV

As Christians, we are challenged to live a simple lifestyle. This principle applies the same way, to a worker who dreams of having his own house, as to a very successful businessman.

The Bible warns that “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” (Ephesians 4:17-18)

The important thing is not the amount of goods that pass through our hands, but the meaning that those assets have for our lives and the way that we manage them before God.

The Christian enjoys the goods that the Lord has given him. However, he does not put his heart and trust in them. He does not cheat or oppress anyone, or lose sleep over profits and the accumulation of wealth or the loss of these. He does not want to get rich, not dependent on lotteries, gambling or the money earned without honest work.

Finally the Christian pays his taxes to the government, thus fulfilling the mandate of Jesus when he said: “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Luke 20:25)

The Christian knows very well what God says: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1Timothy 6:9-10)

A Bible writer clearly tells us, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. (Ephesians 5:3)

Greed must be absent from our homes, because people are much more important than goods; and joy, peace and eternal life cannot be bought with money.

Ildefonso Torres