Let’s start today’s devotional by adding more meaning of “greed” to what was said in the previous series. According to one Danielle Bernock, Greed is a spiritual disease of the heart affecting all areas of a person’s life.This simply means greed is a heart’s based disease; it first originates in the hearts, then manifests in action and makes mess of a person. It affects the whole human life. Greed enters the heart very subtly but gains the master of the heart in a formidable way. This devotional will attempt touching areas greed has been embraced by people of different social strata. That is, how some groups of people have indulged themselves in greedy habits.
By process of getting all to oneself, we have all become greedy. We run after possessions, acquiring landed properties, delving into numerous businesses, enriching ourselves, pursuing money and wealth and grabbing anything we can against the interest of others around us. This is nothing but greed. It is said that the global wealth of the world is in the hands of just 1% of the world population as at 2019. This means about 42 million people out of about 7.8 billion. Through greed, they bought over many industries, companies, factories that bring them more money and materials. *Through greed, the developed countries built themselves in all areas of life against the developing countries. Some of these developed countries now work against the developing nation’s efforts to advance in areas that will bring them up closer to the developed countries.
Greed is in display when political leaders eat alone, leaving the electorates in continuous poverty. Many African leaders take home huge salaries, yet, they control all mechanism of looting the public funds. They owned houses, fleet of vehicles, business empires and so forth. But they do not pay taxes. These groups do not pay house rents. They do not buy fuel or gas with their money. Governments pay all the bills for them. They created their own constitutions given themselves “sit tight in offices” constitutional rights. This is nothing but greed.
We must agree that political and social unrest, the violence and insecurities resulting in shedding of innocent blood seen all over the world today is seed of greedy leaders. God showed Prophet Ezekiel leaders, right from the Old Testament time, killed because of greed (Ezekiel 22: 1 – 7). We will see more of the ways greed gives births to so many evils in the third series of this devotional. Because of greed, human beings have turned God’s Economy upside down. God’s economy is designed to help the poor and the medium income earners. *God designed the land to be shared amongst people and not for land speculators taking greater portions of it. God created wealth for some individuals to use it build up individuals and communities and not for oppressing the less privileged people. Until the world operates within the ambits of God’s designed economy, greed will keep damaging the world.
PRAYERS:
1. Pray that our leaders repent of their voracious attitudes of grabbing all things for themselves in Jesus name.
2. Pray that the faithful religious people in the governments are given boldness to correct their colleagues to depart from greedy life, in the name of Jesus Christ.
3. Pray particularly for Nigerians who are so greedy in all they found themselves doing in the name of Jesus Christ.
POSITIVE CONFESSION:
I send out all agents of greed parking out of my life today. Amen and Amen!!!
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch