Its an ugly word, I think one of the ugliest in the language of humans. It speaks of the desire for more, no matter how much we already have; often no expense is spared. There is often an accompanying desire for others to know how much we have. At the end of the movie "The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey" the eye of the dragon opens. Either he's hungry for more gold or something in him has awakened to the coming threat to his horde of treasure; perhaps both. It is a fairly accurate picture of what greed, unrecognized and certainly unchecked becomes.
It is easy to miss our own propensity to greed. I live, by U.S. standards, a fairly simple life. By global standards I am fabulously wealthy. I don't want to ever forget this, I am blessed simply because of where I was born.
This is not the kind of greed, a greed focused on wealth and possessions, that has stirred my thoughts lately. The greed I am thinking of is the centered around what we think we know theologically - a greed to be right.
I've grown up in and continue to be associated with fairly conservative, mainline protestant, non-liturgical denominations. This has been a blessing in that I've nearly always been led by well trained pastors who deal thoughtfully and communicate well the scriptures we believe to be inspired by God. In addition, I've spent some of my own time in study personally and have been richly blessed.
There is nothing wrong with this, in fact, we are commanded to study in order to more deeply understand and follow our eldest brother, Jesus. Again, I write again, there is nothing wrong with this.
What concerns me is the manner in which we conduct ourselves with what we believe we know. I see, all too often, the tendency to bash others with our modicum of knowledge. On various social media sites I see harsh words directed towards others who hold differing views or who are associated with other ecclesiastical traditions. Often and all too quickly the label "apostate" is used to dismiss others. The deep divisions we see in our political landscape have seeped into our so called christian culture. One believes they are correct and others who differ in non-essentials are wrong, written off as "outside".
It looks like we have hoarded our "gold" of knowledge, what we think is correct, and are all too willing to use our gold to bash others and show to the rest of the world how wise and wealthy we are. We are greedy to be right. It is really very unbecoming.
Jesus' last evening with his closest friends reveals much of how we, his followers, should conduct ourselves. Read John's gospel, chapters 13 - 17 and see what He believed was important. Love, servant-hood, unity, humility. These are the hallmarks of how we should handle whatever truth we understand. His harshest words were directed not at those in bondage to sin but to those who used what they knew to bash others, lorded over others with their "superior" knowledge and offered themselves as having "position" in a very theological culture.
Humility is offered when I consider two things. The first is simple; I am a man who still sins, all to frequently. I fall short in many ways and am in constant need of Jesus' grace and mercy. If I am to have any real "John 10:10" life, I must abide in Jesus.
The second is found in something Jesus said that last night. He told those eleven men that the Spirit would come and lead them into all truth. Any true knowledge I have is because of Abba's Spirit in me revealing the riches of His mystery to me. It is not my intellect. I am simply his wick He has lit and it is His gold he has entrusted me with. What little I know is good, more precious than gold, but it is not mine, it is His. I need to use it wisely, with humility and love, never to make myself look good, or wise, or that I have the corner on what is right. I need not be greedy with what I've been entrusted with nor should I pass quick judgement on those who hold to traditions that differ from mine.
