Greed
But they lie in wait for their own blood, they lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its owners. – Proverbs 1:18-19.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. – 1 Timothy 6:9-11.
When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (greed – NIV), which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. – Colossians 3:4-6.
In South Korea, Han Sang-choon, was dismissed last week from his position as the deputy of Mirae Asset Investment Education Institute. He lost his job because of his statement about why so many people lost money in the recent financial crisis. Han Sang-choon on Korean television stated, “I reckon people haven’t cashed in their funds because of personal greed and expectations of profits.” Mirae Asset in a statement regarding the firing said, “…we decided to sack our deputy head, Han Sang-choon, who gave individual views out of line with our institute’s original purpose, and caused concern to investors.”
Certainly, I have experienced my own share of greed in my personal life. However, God has spared me from some very bad decisions that I could have made because of greed. In 1982, during a boom in the oilfield I had my own oilfield inspection company and business was great. I was making money and thought it would be good to make even more. To do so, I would need to buy equipment to build another inspection unit and hire another pipe inspector. I went to the bank and established a line of credit and was ready to expand. However, I wanted to make sure this was what God wanted. There was only one person at the time that I thought could be the inspector that would work well with me, and I made it a matter of prayer that if God wanted me to expand the company that this man would agree to work for the company.
In October 1982, I was ready to launch my plans and talked to this prospective employee. He rejected my offer and I knew that because of his rejection that God did not want me to go ahead with my plans for expansion. The next month I did have some jobs, but was never paid for them, and my income from the business was cut off like a switch had been flipped. The bust had come to the oilfield boom. I was eventually able to sell my equipment, go back to college, and change careers. However, it could have been much more devastating financially if I had not listened to what God wanted. If I had gone ahead with my plans, bankruptcy would have been my only option.
Greed can easily slip into our view of money and use of money. Caution and prayer about our use and plans for the use of money is always the wise way to proceed. We are in an uncertain time in our world today. Most believe that the financial situation will improve but only God really knows what will happen tomorrow. We must lean heavily upon His wisdom and guidance during these times.
(To avoid the hazards of greed during uncertain economic times we must lean upon the wisdom and guidance of God.)