"There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their own hurt. " (Ecclesiastes 5:13) These are the thoughts of King Solomon as he is dealing with his own heart and the lusts thereof Solomon goes on to say in Ecclesiastes 6:9 that, "Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and vexation of spirit." This sore evil is self-generated and personally experienced when a child of God allows selfishness and covetousness to prevail and dominate the thoughts of his or her heart. This is why the admonition found in Proverbs 4:23 warns the believer to "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."
Dear reader, the "sore evil" which has reached morally epidemic proportions in our nation, churches, and among believers today is none other than GREED, and greed is the progenitor to just about every sin imaginable. I'm personally astounded by the amount of greed being demonstrated among God's people today. Simply put, greed is an "insatiable appetite to have for ourselves." And greed is nothing new! A strong case can be made that greed was a motivation in the lives of Adam and Eve, Cain, Aachan, Gideon, King Saul, King Solomon, and the list can go on and on throughout the pages of scripture. Truly, the human disposition to be greedy produces the sore evil of emptiness and eventually of troubled conscience. We, as God's children, must overcome greed! Greed hinders the cause of Christ, thwarts the work of God, corrupts the church, wreaks havoc upon society, and sends nations to Hell! You and I must face up to it as a real part of our lives! Sure, we can try and balance it out in our lives by giving more money, time, and service to the Lord in our local churches, but the lust to have the "latest" for ourselves or the craving to satisfy our inner desires is simply a trade-off God will not accept. God does not plea bargain nor does He want our trade-offs. If we are truly sincere in our longings for personal, corporate, and national revival we must account GREED to be "among the slain" in this day of battle. Please study carefully Romans 13:13-14; Philippians 4:11-13; Hebrews 13:5; I John 2:15-17; and I John 5:4. The Apostle Paul while sharing a personal testimony in I Corinthians 9:27 said the following, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." And remember the exhortation of I Timothy 6:6 which states, "But godliness with contentment is great gain." In conclusion, A. W. Tozer is quoted as saying, "It is part of my belief that God wants to get us to a place where we would still be happy, if we had only Him! We don't need God and something else. God does give us Himself and lets us have other things, too, but there is that inner loneliness until we reach the place where it is only God that we desire."
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The Watchman's cry
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