rich at any cost attitude…

if i want to reduce stress, i’ve got to patch that hole in my heart, the hole of greed. pride, i can do it all. envy, i can be it all. greed, i can have it all.

the bible does not say it’s wrong to be rich that you need to be poor. it talks instead about having an attitude of contentment whether you’re rich or poor. GOD wants to teach us in both times. but the bible, and particularly the book of proverbs, warns us greatly about this get rich at any cost attitude, about the love of money and what it does to our lives.

greed is an attitude that none of us want to admit to but it’s something that surrounds all of our lives so because of that we all have to deal with the influence and effects of materialism and greed in our lives.

there’s nothing wrong with growing your company or increasing your income. so how do you know if it’s greed? how do you know if it’s materialism? one test: if you think, “i have to have that to be happy,” that job, that increase, whatever. whenever you think about some thing – i have to have that to be happy, that’s when you cross the line over into greed.

the bible warns us greatly about this attitude. proverbs says in 23.4 (ncv), don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. be wise enough to control yourself. if that’s not blunt enough, proverbs 25.16 says it this way (ncv), if you find honey, don’t eat too much or it will make you throw up. that’s blunt! but that’s the truth! that’s what greed does to us. i can’t have it all.

now whatever victories, whatever achievements, whatever accomplishments you have in your life they haven’t happened because of the stress. they happened in spite of the stress. if you could let go of the stress just think of what could happen in your life, think of how GOD could use you!

i may be able to change my schedule and i may even be able to work on my words, but only GOD can change a heart. only GOD can patch these holes in our heart. stress happens when i carry a greater load than i was designed to bear. pride and envy and greed and attitudes like this are caused when i take on a greater load than i was designed for and inevitably there is stress that happens. i need a heart change.

the greatest stress, the greatest way we live outside of our design specifications is in genesis 1 & 2 in the bible. it says that you and i were designed to have a relationship with GOD. GOD made us to relate to HIM. of all of HIS creation, HE made us more than anything to have this relationship with HIM. if i live outside this relationship with HIM, i have great stress in my life.

i’ve got good news for you. GOD doesn’t want you to live that way. HE has an answer for this. JESUS, when HE came into the world, one of the things that HE said is in matthew 11.28 (ncv), come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads and i will give you rest. come to ME. talk to ME. trust in ME. not as some executive consultant for your life but as a new ceo in your life. trust in ME as the manager, the director, the leader of your life. and i will give you rest. you can count on that!!!

just a thought from the front porch…