Week 38 Luke
A guy in the crowd asked the Lord about dividing up the family inheritance. Like any normal guy I guess he wanted to get his fair share.
The Lord didn’t give any legal advice. But he did say: Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
Earning money, winning money, getting money are all pretty regular things. We do what we can to get our hands on money, and most of us accept the general rule: the-more-the-better.
But the point the Lord was making was that monetary acquisitiveness isn’t a stand-alone economic activity. Our lifelong money-making adventure has a hand-in-glove connection to a non-economic driver that the Lord called greed.
I draw two circles side-by-side on a sheet of paper. I call one The-Money-Making-Circle. The Lord says don’t forget about the other circle. The-Greed-Circle. Keeping my Money-Making-Circle clean & clear is pretty tricky business because greed wants to intrude invade and overlap. Wanting-more wants in. The Lord says to be wary of it.
I can find out how many dollars I have in the bank. Calculating the number of personal units of greed I’ve invested is quite a bit bigger a problem.
Money is like a slip of litmus, green until it discolours in the presence of concentrated desire.
Note: Luke 12:15 (NIV)