Gimme!

ALL – Psalm 78:32-55
ALL – Proverbs 12:21-23
OT – Deuteronomy 31:1-32:27
NT – Luke 12:8-34

If we’re honest when it comes to getting new tools, new clothes, new movies, new music, new gadgets, etc., most of us sound like Ariel from the Little Mermaid: “Looking around here you think, “Sure, she’s got everything.”… But who cares? No big deal. I want more.”

Craving. Wanting. Coveting. Greed. It’s an epidemic that hits pretty much every home, and usually every member of every home. We’re sick people – sick with greed, sick with envy, sick with desire. And we think that the medicine for our condition is more stuff. “I don’t need much! Just this one thing, and I’ll be happy…”

If we’re honest, we’ll admit that our continuous acquisitions have not cured us. What we thought was medicine is actually poison; rather than curing us, each new gadget and each new toy we buy feeds our disease. And it’s killing us. We’re so sick for new clothes, new cars, new posters and new experiences that we gladly spend all our money on them, even when we end up running out of money for our heat, our water, or our food. And even those of us who are wealthy enough to spend as we desire without running out of money for our necessities are deadly sick; we would rather spend ridiculous sums on ourselves than on our needy neighbors or on the kingdom of God! What’s wrong with us?

That’s why Jesus said:

Beware! Don’t always be wishing for what you don’t have. For real life and real living are not related to how rich we are. – Luke 12:15, The Living Bible

He had a remedy for this sickness, too:

Sell what you have and give to those in need. – Luke 12:33, The Living Bible

The remedy for greed is generosity, not “buying just one more thing.” The remedy for sending life down the drain is giving life to those who are barely scraping by. The remedy for our selfishness is love—a love that gives.

Can you and I relax our grasping hands and give? What’s the struggle?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.