Greed - Watch Out for It!

I clinked two quarters into an Aberdeen, N.C., vending machine holding Saturday, January 24, 2009, copies of “The Charlotte Observer” newspaper, which featured this headline: “Jobless rate in N.C. rises to 8.7 percent.”

My wife and I subscribe to “The News and Observer” of Raleigh, N.C., but I buy Saturday editions of Charlotte’s popular paper to peruse its weekly religion section.

The January 24 Charlotte Observer reported that North Carolina’s 8.7 percent December unemployment rate (that figure represents 400,000 idled workers) is the state’s highest since 1983. South Carolina had 8.4 percent unemployment in November – the third highest rate in the nation during that month.

The ongoing economic recession hit the hospital in Pinehurst, N.C. That hospital recently cut 28 fulltime and 26 part-time jobs.

I work in product development for a carpet manufacturer. As my overseer and I recently crossed our company’s parking lot, our boss drove in from lunch, rolled down his car window and reminded us to develop a carpet to sell as a “special” in one of the national big-box stores known for merchandising home building materials. He said we must get that product into those stores or “there could be more layoffs” at our company.

My overseer later said, “Is that pressure or what?”

I heard of a 75-year-old man who trusted an investor “friend” and reportedly lost millions. He and his wife now live on $2200 per month from Social Security. Their children chip in to help them, he said.

In the January 24 Charlotte Observer, I found a column by the Rev. Billy Graham, who is 90 years old. A lady wrote to him, asking if recent scandals and economic hard times might be signs of God’s judgment and of Christ’s return.

“We’ve always had scandals – but they do seem to be getting worse,” the Rev. Graham responded. “The problem is we’ve forgotten God – and because we’ve forgotten God, we’ve forgotten his moral laws. When we turn our backs on him and put ourselves at the center of our lives, we ignore his rules for living and set up our own standards, doing whatever we think we can get by with.”

Greed is behind many of today’s financial scandals (and other scandals, as well), Graham said.

“The Bible warns us to avoid greed and labels it a terrible sin in the eyes of God,” he wrote. “Are these scandals a sign of Christ’s coming? They may well be. Don’t let these things touch you, however, but put Christ first and make it your goal to live for him every day.”

In an article titled “The Three Faces of Greed” (Christianity Today, January 28, 2009), writer W. Jay Wood says, “Sin seldom strides into our lives announcing its hostile intentions. It prefers stealth, camouflage, or even better, to appear friendly. As Thomas Aquinas taught, when we do evil we always will to act ‘under the aspect of the good.’”

Wood, a professor of philosophy at Wheaton College (Wheaton, Illinois), continues, “Greed is an inappropriate attitude toward things of value, built on the mistaken judgment that my well-being is tied to the sum of my possessions. Greed is more than mistaken belief – as if knowing a few more facts would somehow solve the problem. It also involves emotions (perhaps longing, un-fulfillment, fear) and attitudes (a sense of entitlement, rivalry). Greed alienates us from God, from our neighbor, and from our true self.”

Wood says that in an extreme form, Christian justifications for greed lead to a “name it and claim it” gospel of prosperity that “inverts the Gospel teaching about camels, needles, rich persons, and heaven.”

If you have seen a toddler forcibly take a toy from another child, you know what greed is. Greed is inherent in human nature and can evidence itself in individuals, groups, corporations and nations.

Jesus told his disciples, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15, NIV).

During economically prosperous times or tough, lean times, let’s give Jesus first place in our lives.