GREED AND ITS REWARD

Greed is responsible for much sorrow. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” But is greed only about money? No. Greed goes much further than money.

What is greed exactly then? What does God or the Bible have to say about it?

Greed is a spiritual disease of the heart affecting all areas of a person’s life, it has destroyed a lot of lives in our world today, at the end of this if you are in this category you should read and make a wise decision to avoid the reward of greed. 

WHAT IS GREED?

Greed is the excessive or extreme desire/need for something(food, money, or possession) or social value (power). Greed is not all about money, a lot of people do think greed is all about money that's wrong.

a person can be hungry for money but also for possession, fame, another person's time, for attention.

A man named James came from a poor background always struggling to survive same goes for his friend John, they both lived a horrible life always finding a way to eat and feed their family members, having to stay home without being educated to help the family survive. A day came when John went to James to discuss traveling to the city to find a job to earn some money for their family, they both agreed to turn things around in their family, education was what James want to go into while John wants to go into making money. 

While in the city they both work as security men in a company and started receiving a salary at the end of every month. James does send 50% of his salary to his family members and save the rest for education because he really wants to go to school while John does send 20% of his salary to his family members and spend the rest on party, clubs, and some people that don't add benefits to his life, John doesn't have plans for his future all he do is spending money for his satisfaction. Well, the time came John used his money to start a business after James advised him to plan for the future but John was selfish and greedy when he was making a lot of money and forgot his family members he promised to help, he was never contented with what he has, he wanted more to the extent he doesn't pay his workers full salary anymore always him and business. He will use his money for gambling to get more buy a lot of material things, he doesn't offer help to those in need, and he never visited his family members, his mum got sick and wasn't treated she died, and his siblings, running here and there searching for jobs to survive. That was how John lived his life.

On the other hand, James went to school to study Business Administration, he came out second-class graduate and was employed to manage an organization's resources to ensure it runs effectively, efficiently, and profitably. He was also given three bed-room flat and a private car. He was earning a huge amount of money, he called his family members to the city, helped them, send his younger ones to school, and gave money to his mum to start a business. Everyone was so happy about his success, even the CEO of the company was very happy to have him in his company and handed over the company to James as the new CEO. James was kind, generous, and satisfied with what he had and he does donate some money to the orphanage and helped some families who were poor. He built a school building for those who are not educated. everyone loved James and that's how God blessed him and his family.

When John heard this, he went to James to seek his ideas about business management and lied to him that he needed money to import more goods and also treat his mum. Well, James being generous helped him as he was impersonated by John, John used the money to gamble and spend for his satisfaction.

John went to a club to gamble, he won and ended the game but didn't know who he defeated. On his way back home, he was attacked by a group of men with guns and some weapons who tried to kill him, John narrowly escaped being injured but didn't successfully escape as he asked a man to help him, the man rejected him and walked away. That was how John died with his greediness.

James went to his hometown, saw John's siblings took them in as his family, send them to school, and gave John's brother a job and that was how James lived his life as it was planned.

With this, you can figure out the causes and rewards of greed but still, I will emphasize more on that. Greed is never a good thing or character in the life of a person that doesn't get rid of it. you see the life of John, because of greed he lost his life, and reputation and couldn't get help from anyone because of his character. If you are living a life like John, get rid of it and live a life like James and even more than what James did.

Let's see why John was greedy, that's the 

CAUSES OF GREED

What makes an individual greedy? what causes greed in the life of a person? Why are people greedy?

-  Discontentment: This has answered it all, discontentment is the major cause of greed. People who are greedy are never satisfied with what they have even if it seems enough for them they aren't satisfied, they want more. "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income" (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

- ENVY: This has caused a lot, it is always in the life of greedy people. They are envious of others, they want to have what is not theirs and take what they want from them. They will find every possible means to get what does not belong to them because of envy. They always feel that an individual has it all and what to take it all for their satisfaction. As I said earlier greed is not only about money. These individuals they are envious of may have power or great possession, greedy people will find every means, they don't care what means they will use to get it from them, this is what causes greediness.

- Lack of Money: People need money, yes that's true but we have a limit for that. The love of money is the root of all evil according to Bible. If you are always in need of money to meet your needs it can lead you to do something illegally, something that can destroy someone else's life because you don't want to lack anything. Greed can make you feel you are lacking, and that you should find every means to meet your needs. Because of that it forces you to pursue money at all costs.

Let's see examples of those in the Bible who were greedy;

- Zacchaeus (Luke 19) He was a tax collector, he was in love with money which made him take money from people in the town, he wasn't satisfied but later get rid of greed in his life when Jesus Christ visited him.

- Judas Iscariot, a disciple of Jesus Christ betrayed Jesus Christ for money not only that, his weakness was greed for money, for every contribution the people makes for Jesus' ministration, he always take part of it from the money box. (John 12:4-6)

- Achan one of the children of Israel when sent to Jericho with Joshua and his army that every silver, gold, and all that was in the city must be devoted to God. Achan out of greed took with him some of the gold and silver and went back. Because of his greediness, the children of Israel lost the battle against Ai and also he and his family were stoned to death. (Joshua 17)

- Ananias and Sapphira out of greed took some part of the money gotten from the land they sold and also lied to Peter and the Holy Spirit. As a result of their lies and greed they died. (Acts 5)

- Gehazi's greed led to lying, deceit, and leprosy 

Those are some of the examples of people in the Bible that were greedy and you can see the reward of their greediness. Most people thought they need more to succeed, more money, more power, and more friends to succeed. Yes, it may help you but is it permanent? Is it gonna last? No. Take greed out of you.

Well, I can say greed has a positive impact also, it helps you to push for better social and economic outcomes.

There are rewards for greed, let's talk about the rewards of greed;

REWARD OF GREED 

- Overspending

- Anxiety, always worrying about how to get what you don't have and keep to the standard of living.

- Death; Greed steals life (Proverb 1 vs 19 - "So are the ways of everyone that's greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owner thereof")

- Lack of trust and dishonesty; people won't trust you anymore or won't go into deals with you because of dishonesty and lack of trust in you.

- It ruins families (proverbs 15:27), just like Achan

- Mal-adaption behavior [gambling, robbery, theft, fraud (we do call it yahoo-yahoo) etc.]

- Depression 

Some will ask how can we eliminate greed to avoid the dangers/rewards of greed.

HOW TO ELIMINATE GREED

1Timothy 6:17-19

- You must be contented with what you have in order to cure greed. Contentment is the greatest cure for greed.

- Charity; you have to show love to others. Learn how to give and show love to others.

- You must be generous.

- Be honest.

- You must pray for God to help you change this lifestyle.

With these, you can get rid of greed and live a happy life that others will respect and love you. Above all, God will be happy and bless you abundantly.

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