When Nelson Rockefeller was the richest man in the world, someone asked him how much money was enough.
He replied, "One dollar more than I have.
" Unfortunately for him, when he died he became no richer than any other dead man that has ever lived on this earth.
His quest for money did not make him any better a Christian (if he was one in the first place).
It also had absolutely no influence on improving his eternal destiny.
In fact, he was not able to take any of it with him.
It was all left behind.
How about you? How much money is enough? How much do you need to earn to have enough? How do you want to use what you have got and what you could have if you got more? How much time do you spend thinking about how to get more money and what you would do with it and how much time to you spend thinking about how much God has given you and how you can bless Him with it? Do you get caught up in the advertising hype and believe that if you could have this or afford to buy or do that you would be truly and forever happy? The whole purpose of advertising is to appeal to our desires to have what is being promoted.
Indeed, our goal here is to instill in you a passionate desire to want to know Jesus more intimately and study His life and teachings.
So why should you study the life of Jesus? In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus tells us that the treasures of this earth are not as important as the treasures in heaven.
The accumulation and possession of treasures on this earth is often the evidence of selfishness and the evidence of greed in your life.
The treasures of heaven are the result of loving and serving others which frees us from our need for greed.
What are the dangers of being greedy and pursuing earthly possessions? Pursuit of Money Robs Us of Real Treasure - Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus talks about the priorities of our possessions.
He contrasts the importance of this world's treasures to those of Heaven.
God has something far better for us than all of the wealth of the world.
God's treasures will not rot or rust or be left behind when we leave this world.
Greed may get more stuff, but it does now good towards gaining eternal life.
The bumper sticker errantly says, "He who has the most toys wins.
" The fact is that he who has the most toys still ends up with nothing when he dies! He can't buy one second of eternal life even if he were to have all of the wealth in the world.
There is no treasure as valuable as one second in Heaven.
All of the money and wealth in this world cannot buy that.
In fact, the way to gain that eternal treasure is to consider others as more important than yourself and do what you can to help them make their lives better.
That may include giving financially to their needs, but more so to do what you can do to help them make their lives better.
That involves your time and your talents more than your treasures.
The overriding attitude is one of loving others, not selfishness.
As you do that, you will be freed from greed.
Pursuit of Money Causes Blindness - Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus next points out how we are so influenced by what we see.
The eye sees and the mind reacts on that image.
What we see strongly affects what we perceive.
If we fill our eyes with good things, we will be led to walk in good ways.
If we allow our eyes to dwell on things they should not be dwelling on, we will sooner or later be broken down to giving in to those things.
That is why advertising is so dangerous.
We see, and then we want, whether it is good for us or not.
When we are focused on our possessions, we are being greedy and we can't see God's leading us to use those possessions to glorify Him.
When we are guarding our cars, stereos, gadgets and toys, we aren't noticing others who are in need that we have the means to help.
That is selfishness and again, the overriding attitude is to love others.
To be freed from our greed, we must open our eyes and look at others in their needs and then act where we can to meet those needs that we can meet.
As you do that, you will be freed from greed.
Dr.
James Dobson observed that the more stuff we buy, the more that stuff "owns us"! Now that we have bought it, we worry about someone taking it and we have to maintain it in order to receive some sort of perceived benefit from it.
We often get so worried about our possessions that we are hindered from using them to serve God and serve others.
Pursuit of Money Hinders Our Service to God - Matthew 6:24 Today, so many people are so worried about earning more money to support more possessions than they need because they are caught up in collecting the most toys.
They are spending money that they don't have to buy things they don't really need to impress people that they don't like.
Instead of loving, worshiping and serving God, they are so absorbed in being greedy and grabbing more stuff for themselves that they are losing their own souls for eternity.
As you are "Getting To Know Jesus", you see that God has given you much more than money can ever buy.
He has given you eternal life! Try to match that! He asks you use your time, talents and treasures to serve Him and love others.
If you do that, you will indeed be freed from greed.
God bless you and have a great week!