Quality of life not in earthly possessions

Luke 12:15 Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness…
There is an old sin which we must slay before it slays us. It is covetousness. This sin is gaining momentum especially in these last days characterised by the unceasing pursuit of worldly and material things. Covetousness often comes in subtle ways. It starts with a justified desire to have something bigger and better. It then grows into desiring everything bigger, better and more. Finally, when it is fully grown it becomes an unholy, immoderate and insatiable desire for wealth and the greedy longing to have and hoard possessions for one’s self.

Covetousness shipwrecks faith because unjustified means is used to reach ends. It is covetousness or the love of money that drives most people into the occult to get juju to boost their businesses. Even pastors, driven by the desire to have bigger congregations, may visit sorcerers and diviners for the ‘anointing’ that attracts people.  Covetousness is inimical to faith because of its acute selfish tendency to hoard rather than to disperse.

True faith longs to share. Covetousness causes one to depend on things rather than on God. This is why God strongly warns against it. He is a jealous God who will not tolerate anything that takes His place in a man’s life. 1 Timothy 6:17 reads, “As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud, arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God, who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” The sin of covetousness is committed not only when you hoard possessions but also when you merely long to hoard that which you are yet to possess. This means you can be guilty of the sin of greed even when you have nothing. It is a mental sin.

The Lord Jesus gave a classic statement on covetousness after he was asked by a certain man to help divide an inheritance between him and his brother. He said, “Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs.” How very wrong are we in practice? We judge each person’s quality of life by his earthly possessions. Type of cars, location of house, kind of wardrobe and communication gadgets one possesses are used to define one’s standard of life. Pastors talk of size of congregations, amounts of weekly offerings collected, tithes paid and frequency of speaking engagements around the world. God says we should not judge one’s life by these things. He defines man’s quality of life by the quality of relationship he shares with God.

To make His classic statement clear, Jesus went on to give a parable of the rich fool. The rich man’s field yielded a bumper harvest and he built bigger storehouses in which to store his produce and goods. He said to his soul, “Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily.” He thought he had arrived only to be awakened out of spiritual slumber by God Himself, the source of life.

God said to him, “You fool! This very night they (angels) will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared whose will they be?” Another scripture becomes very relevant here, “What will it to profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” But the judgement that fell on the rich fool can fall upon us today if we fall into the same sin of covetousness. “So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich (in his relation) to God (this is how he fares). Let us lay up treasures in heaven by sharing our earthly riches with others so that when we get to heaven we will rejoice evermore with God Himself who fully satisfies all our needs.

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