[Chaplain Steve Welborn spoke on this topic, and i thought it was very relevant for today]
Poverty is one thing, but being so greedy we’re too poor to pay attention? Yea, that is another story. Seeing poverty coupled with greed paints a picture of the heart and soul of many in our world today who seem totally inspired by the without-Jesus corrupt world we live in. Yea, inspired by being godless. If being godless is an inspiration then it is not inspiration at all. Ridiculous! The flashing lights, “have it your way! You rule” advertisements, we are lost in the dazzle, the glowing images in clothing stores implying “if you had this shirt or that dress you’d be amazing and everyone would want you!”
C’mon friends, put on your thinking cap and think. Living our lives holding Jesus as central to all we do flips worldly ideas upside down: It’s not, not, not about self-promotion but self-denial, where righteous exaltation comes from the idea of “humility comes before honor”, or, Jesus comes before our wants and desires. If your hunger for needing a person or church system to validate you is always working in your character, know that it likely stems from insecurity or comparison, and could easily veer into increasing permissiveness and even immorality. What fertile ground are we rooted in? If it’s rooted in glorifying God and serving others, it’s a healthy part of faith. Look, Jesus Himself sought glory from the Father, showing it’s not the desire that’s wrong, but the source and spirit behind it. John 17:1-5, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
To reiterate, it’s not desire that is wrong but the object of desire, and don’t even do that black and white thinking thing, letting yourself think all objects of desire are twisted because many of us have a longing, a desire to know Jesus, so desire isn’t the problem. Let us use our discernment to see this correctly. When any person or object becomes competitive with God, ahh, now it is called idolatry and sin. When the object of my desire is all about counting congregation size with a heart to build an empire, as in those lost in church mega-world, when the object of my desire gives power to my spirit over my flesh, giving power to my greed to be more than i am in order to claim a title, platform, or get a book deal, right there we’ve got a problem. It is the face of greed and it will drive us, not lead us but drive us to become those whom God considers, “poor”. In Mark 4 Jesus was led, in Mark 8 the demonized man was driven. Faith leads — greed drives.
Thus, we come to the “poverty of greed”, and what is at the root. i love giving surveys so i went around asking the question: “what is at the heart of the poverty of greed?” The following are some of the replies: Byron Wicker wrote, it is fear and the lack of trusting that God is enough and sufficient. i say: That same fear and lack of trust will slowly drive us into abject poverty of spirit, thinking, and eventually in our body, possible even to our own demise. Eugene Peterson said, “greed is the assumption that everything is for me and about me.” Henry Nouwen wrote “greed is rooted in the fear of not having enough.” An anonymous reply was, Greed is the delight of self-sufficiency and reliance over simple contentment of Grace. Nate Seabury wrote, “greed is disordered love, trusting and craving something other than God for security, joy, and identity.”
The poverty of greed, is the gnawing need growing in our arduous uncertainties, that eventually make us live as those who are called “poor” and “poverty stricken”.
Sharing your bread with the poor, is a kindness indeed, but we truely do need to have some bread to share. Got bread to share?
Those who are poor, are not as those who don’t have stuff, but those who are poor in spirit, wearing too big shame clothes, and the worn out shoes of walking far but never getting anywhere, tired of being tired, from running against the wind, and feeling like everything is closing in.
Here are some more things i believe are firmly at the root of the “poverty of greed”. The fear of not being seen so i act out making sure others see me; Fear of not being heard so i watch YouTube preachers in order to get cool stuff to say and pray, then i repeat it all in my small group meetings. And all the people said together, “Wow!”; It is fear that God doesn’t love us like He says, so i turn into a constant Debbie-downer; Fear of not having value and so i shoulder my way into relationships which no one asked me to participate in. i want, i want, i want, gimme, gimme, gimme, but then we are confronted by the “i shall not want” of Psalm 23. Greed isn’t merely about wanting more, oh no — it also stems from fear of losing control, and fear of what lies ahead; it’s an act of self-protection rooted in the fear that God will not provide, and, i say, the poverty of greed is also rooted in supremely misplaced trust in, what i call, “accumulated resentments”. We all need to know that accumulated resentment always wants vindication, and all that accumulated resentment, piled up, stinking and steaming, one on top of another will drive us to the poor house in our mind and spirit.
Again, friends, in order to share our bread with the poor, we must have some bread to share. How are we going to do that? We say we know the answer but how often do we humbly act like it? Clement of Alexandria wrote: “poverty of greed is one of the cruelest ironies in human experience: the more fiercely someone chases endless accumulation, the more profoundly impoverished they become—not in wallet, but in everything that actually makes a life feel rich.” Imagine someone with big barns, many followers, and big congregations that all just keep expanding to look like mega-church, for mega-people, singing mega-worship songs, with a mega-worship band, doing mega-things for mega-reasons, ensnaring people by asking them to pledge loyalty to their denomination. Looks more like taking slaves in a way, except it seems every new gain sharpens the bottomless hunger for the next one. The pleasure mill doesn’t just spin, it literally accelerates. Those hungry mega-believers may look like abundance on the outside but they often suffer from chronic scarcity on the inside: there is never enough.
Don’t you know greed lives in the future of “what if”, or in the past, the fear of what might be lost, but is rarely actually present and in the room. True rest requires we trust God, but the poverty of greed whispers you don’t trust Him and then anxiety becomes your baseline.
Proverbs 30:15-16, “The leech has two daughters: Give and Give, more and more. Three things are never satisfied, yes four which never say, “Enough”:
hell, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.”
i think — when “more” is the only measurement left, i don’t know this but i do believe it, life flattens into an empty, pointless single dimension. Seneca, a philosopher from a very long time ago captured the poverty of greed perfectly: “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, THAT is poor. They end up with full hands and empty spirits.”
We need Jesus really bad.
If we don’t trust God to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory, then the swirling, downward whirlpool of desperation is ever drawing closer to us. And you know the saddest part? Most people don’t notice they’re living in it until the hunger has already eaten up everything else.
We simply must choose and we must be responsible for our choices. Trust God or not? Believe God or not? Friends, we’re down to the wire and the line of choosing is bearing down upon us. What say ye?
Isaiah 49:4, “I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”
i’m Social Porter for Living in His Name Ministries