The Root of Greed is Insecurity

The root of greed is insecurity born out of a deception!

I spent some time on this Bible verse, and my eyes got opened to something I had not seen before. I was seeing, in a new light that, the greedy longing to have more and more, is rooted in an insecurity, which is born out of deception.
Let’s take a look at the Scripture.

“Speaking to the people, he went on, ” Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”
(Luke 12:15, MSG)

The New Living Translation renders it this way,
“…” Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” ”

Here is the insecurity: low self worth.
And the deception is this: “your self worth is equated to how much or little material possession you have. That, the more you have, the more you are.”
So this puts people on an endless chase for material things. They are trying to makeup for a deficit (self) account; filling up a personal deficiency, a flawed self. They’re on a quest to build their self worth with riches and possession.

This is a deception!
And the problem with this kind of thinking is this, you’re trying to meet a spiritual need with material things. You’re trying to meet a “being” problem through “having.” Material things don’t really satisfy. This is why you’re on an endless pursuit for more and more.

If you define who you are by what you have, then you will have to always try to get more and more, to keep your self worth from going down.

Another danger of this deception is that , your self worth will keep oscillating. Today it’s up; tomorrow it’s down, depending on how much you have.

God didn’t intend for us to derive our self worth from our net worth. No! He didn’t intend for us to define or evaluate our lives by what we have or don’t have. Our lives do not equate to riches, even if you have alot!

Your value as a person comes from who you are. And you are who you are because of what Christ has done for you. Your worth comes from the price He paid to have you. And Christ paid for you with His own precious blood. He paid for your life with His own life. Nothing less!

“For you know God paid a RANSOM to save you… And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.
It was the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
(1Peter1:18-19, NLT)

You’re worth everything, to the Father, the blood of Christ is. For His sacrifice for you completely established your worth as a person. So the next time you’re tempted to think that you’re how much you have, remind yourself that, that’s a lie. Your life wasn’t paid for with gold or silver. No! You were bought with the precious blood of the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That’s how much you’re worth!