Greed: Selfish Desire

~~~ Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~~~

~~Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23~~

~~Psalm 90~~ Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11~~Luke 12:13-21~~

“Take care to guard against all greed,

for though one may be rich,

one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

The dictionary defines greed as...

intense and selfish desire for something, 

especially wealth, power, or food.

When an individual becomes strangled by greed

 they can never be satisfied...

there is always something more they desire.

Greed leaves the soul starving for something 

that it does not recognize.

Greed robs the soul of finding peace of heart.

Greed exhausts one's ability to rest.

One cannot rest when there is always something more.

In order to get more they must be in a constant state of acquisition.

God gives us his peace.

Peace never emerges out of greed.

We hear in scripture that 

'love of money is the root of all evil'...

(1Tim.6:10)

Greed keeps one hungry day and night.

Greed cannot quiet the grumbling stomach.

Greed does not come from God.

Perhaps the first sin in the Garden of Eden

was ultimately the first sin of greed.

The temptation of greed was disguised in a luscious

 piece of sweet juicy fruit.

No matter how much we desire or what we 

acquire in our lifetime

none of it gets you into the gates of heaven.

We must find a way to accumulate the intangible.

We must become 

 '...rich in what matters to God.'

It is only God that can

 satisfy the greed of our heart.

He can only do that if we keep 

our tendencies toward greed under control.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Greed is not the path to heaven.

Greed holds one on the race track 

with no finish line in sight.

Christ is all and in all.

There is no room for greed.

None of our earthly possessions

 will make it into eternity with our soul.

Blessings...

greed cannot be the way.

~~~Peace~~~