Greed is another of the seven deadly sins which can trip us up and cause us to fall away from God. Greed is an ‘intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power or food’ and is also linked to avarice (defined as ‘extreme greed for wealth or material gain.’) Jesus made it clear that an addiction to possessions and wealth can be harmful spiritually (see Mark 10:17-31), but it is hard for us sometimes to see how attached we have become to ‘stuff’, how we effectively worship our possessions as the painting below by Evelyn De Morgain shows.
The Veggie Tales episode featuring Madame Blueberry looks at how easily we can become fixated on possessions, as the character yearns for more and more things from ‘Stuff-Mart’ (until eventually her house in a tree collapses under the weight of all these things…)
The Salvation Army has challenged us to remove one item from our houses each day during Lent which we no longer need or wear and donate it to the Salvation Army so that those possessions can help others.
Such practices help us to do more than tidy our houses; they help us to look at our possessions with eyes that seek to bless others rather than always focussing on what we want or think we need. Jesus told us ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35), and when we adopt this philosophy, we unhook the tentacles of greed from our hearts and allow thankfulness and gratitude to become our defining principles. Madame Blueberry eventually learns that ‘a thankful heart is a happy heart’; as Paul writes to Timothy, ‘Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.’ (1 Tim 6:17-19) We definitely want the ‘life that is truly life’ and need, therefore, to loosen our grip on the things of this world in order to take hold of eternal life, putting away treasure in heaven (see Matt 6:19-21)