Sunday March 16th 2014 - BEWARE OF COVETOUSNESS

BEWARE OF COVETOUSNESS

Memorise: And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth . LUKE  12:15

One of the challenges of the 21^st century world and the church in particular is covetousness. Worldliness is now the greatest foe of the church and it seems leaders are becoming helpless in this regard. The amazing thing is that this seemingly helpless situation had been spoken of by the Lord of the Church – Jesus Christ, and by His early apostles. It is therefore incorrect to think that the present situation is irredeemable. Jesus warned us against covetousness in Luke 12:13-15. It is surprising to here Jesus indirectly telling His audience that the man who came to complain about his brother’s overbearing attitude was covetous. Not many people will understand this except by divine revelation. In other words, it appears in this passage that the complainant was asking for too much! It takes covetousness to ask for too much. The vanity in being covetous is that the life of a man is neither made more meaningful nor pleasant by the abundance of his material possessions. The Bible in Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 says:  

“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owner thereof, saving  the beholding of them with their eyes?”

Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote to warn us against the menace of worldliness and covetousness. He encouraged us to embrace godliness with contentment which, he said, is great gain. He further wrote in 1Timothy 6:9 that:

“But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a share, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”

Beloved, how far have you been dragged into the world? How far has the world been dragged into you, those things that did not matter to you years back, are they not what you are running after now? Remember that the rich people of yesterday ran into the Church before they could have peace and satisfaction. They envied believers and came to share in our heritage. Good for them, but bad for  those of us who have thrown away the peace and joy that money cannot  buy for the vanity of this world.

 Action Point

Check your life to find out whether the trio of lusts – the lust of the flesh, of the eye and the pride of life are present. Determine to modify them for everlasting joy.