Greed: The Sin of Always Wanting More (EP 201)

episode

The Bryce Crawford Podcast 16 min 1 speaker 6 chapters transcribed 3 months ago

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: chapters · speakers · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Bryce Crawford 0:00

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Carver Podcast.

What is greed and how can we recognize it?

Bryce Crawford 0:02

I'm Bryce, and today we are going to be talking about greed, what it is biblically, what the Bible says, and how we can overcome it. But before we get into it, we have to define what greed is, and I'm going to define greed by asking you this question. Do you have an excessive attachment to material items, money, or power, status, or If the answer is yes, then that might be a sign that you struggle with greed. Now, in order to overcome any of these sins, especially when it comes to like the seven deadly sins, according to Proverbs chapter six, the first thing we got to do is be honest about ourselves. Transparency is what leads to transformation. And so if you want freedom and you listen to this episode and you hear about this freedom and you want something that you don't have, then sometimes you've got to do something you've never done.

Bryce Crawford 0:47

And maybe let's get honest. But greed definitionally is having an excessive attachment and want for material items, wealth, power, or status. And really what greed is at the core is it's a lack of trust and a lack of contentment in God. And you see, I think sometimes we can oftentimes in America and in particularly American culture, we can amass greed with the term financial security, right? And there's a difference between stewardship and and anxiety and depression that comes along with quote-unquote financial security. Now, we can get into the greed thing in a minute. Let's talk about money, okay? Money, when we read the Bible, it refers to it as mammon. Money is amoral, okay? It has no feelings, thoughts, or emotions.

Bryce Crawford 1:39

So is money inherently sinful? No. Every time the Bible is talking about greed, it is talking about the excessive love of money. So in Matthew chapter 6, when Jesus addresses that no one can serve two masters, you either love the one and hate the other. You despise the one and are devoted to the other. No one can serve God and money. It's down to the heart. Now, isn't it interesting that in that analogy, Jesus uses money and God? Why didn't Jesus use something else? Why did he particularly use money? Well, because money has a deception and can have the appearance of giving you things temporarily of what God can satisfy in fulfillment. People say that you can buy happiness. You can buy sex. You can buy a ton of different things with money.

Bryce Crawford 2:27

Substances. You can buy a feeling from dopamine and drugs or alcohol. You can buy experiences. But God is the only one that can bring ultimate contentment. Because if you search for God in everything else but in him, then you will be left hopeless, desperate, depressed, anxious, all of the above. And so what we can mask as financial security really is greed at the heart if you have an excessive attachment to money, power, wealth, status, whatever it may be. So when Jesus is talking about you can't serve both God and money, he's talking about the heart. Does your heart love your money more than it loves God? Do you love your money more than you love God because you lack trusting God to provide for you?

Bryce Crawford 3:09

What else did Jesus say in Matthew chapter 6? Well, if God feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field and beauty and they're not made in the image of God and human beings are of greater moral value because they are made in his image, then how much more is he going to take care of you and me if he feeds the birds and they're not made in his image and they're of lesser moral value than you and I? Because according to the scriptures, the Bible says that God takes care of his children. You see, greed always gives you what you want. God doesn't always give you what you want, but he gives you what you need. Or let me rephrase it as to greed wants to give you what you always want, but God doesn't always give you what you want.

Bryce Crawford 3:48

He gives you what you need. And that's the importance because God doesn't want to crush you with things that you think is best for your life. God actually wants to bless you with the absence of things if that means that that absence is filled with more of him.