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
READ
Luke 12:13-15
13 And one of
the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the
inheritance with me.
14 And he
said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
15 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.
MESSAGE
One of the challenges of the 21st 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 hear 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 owners 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 1 Timothy 6:9 that:
“But
they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, 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 mortify them for everlasting joy and peace.
BIBLE
IN ONE YEAR
Lamentations 1-2;
Psalm 63
thnk u lord! father pls make me holy
ReplyDeleteLord help me never to miss heaven because of things of this world,Amen.
ReplyDelete