UNHOLY DESIRES

"God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full--there's nowhere for him to put it." - Augustine

 

Greed

In 2005, a Pakistani high school science teacher Syed Sibtul Hassan Shah went to Dubai. When he returned to his hometown, he convinced his neighbours to give him their savings, which he doubled in seven days, based on a stock program he'd learned in Dubai. Word spread of the "Double Shah." People began investing with him; in eighteen months, he took in $880 Million from 3,000 people and was considered the next political leader from the area. When police arrested Shah on charges of robbery in 2007, thousands of people descended to the streets to protest against his arrest. In January 2012, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he pleaded guilty.

Greed is the obsession with accumulating material goods. A greedy person values these goods more than anything else - our greed can never be satisfied. Greed and slothfulness have similarities - the greedy and slothful both crave material goods, with no desire to work for it. The slothful will not work even for basic necessities. The greedy will use deception to acquire stuff, will lie or use false pretenses to acquire things. At the expense of others.
Jesus Christ wants us to love Him, and the people around us, not things. As we know, it is from loving material things that we get tempted and lured. Turn your greed to the Lord, and love Him with all your heart: if you do this, there won’t be room to love material things. Examine your life today.