Overcomers of - Greed

I don't want to open the cupboard today and take a look in the box pushed to the back of the third shelf. I close my eyes before reading the name on the carefully wrapped box. The top of the box comes off without any effort. It's as though it wants to throw everything inside at me. And there are endless magazines, each one with more beautiful photos than the other.

Taking the magazines out, amazing photography indicates splendor, glory, and a sense of well-being. Larger homes, fancier cars, better technology, more imaginative ways of getting money back on credit cards: it's all there in amazing detail. Oh, the credit cards! Thousands of them! Endless articles on how to retire with enough to live a comfortable life.

Luxurious hotel rooms on the Pacific islands can't quite match the tours promoted in European travel magazines. Beautifully decorated rooms, gorgeous women, and handsome men, all without a blemish, promise happiness. The more I pull out the magazines, the more seem to appear in this box. It seems bottomless! And it is! Then it hits me...all these images feed the greed that lies within my heart. 

Jesus said to them, 'Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions. Then he told them this parable." There was a rich man who wanted bigger barns... Luke 12:14,15.

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of ... greed..." Romans 1:28,29

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived...the greedy... will not inherit the kingdom of God, And that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." I Corinthians 6:9-11

We take comfort in these wonderful verses, which I am referring to each day this week. (One day on each of the Seven Deadly Sins.) 

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness." I Corinthians 10:13; Romans 8:8-10 

 "Thank you, Loving Father, for enough for today, for home, family, friends, and my community. I praise you for the skills I have, my memories, and the imagination of how to earn a living honestly. We thank you that in you, we find our sufficiency. In you, there is fullness of joy. In you, I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly places, and that is enough for me."