Filed under: Christianity, Personal Finance, Ramblings, lessons from... | Tags: greed
Colossians 3:5
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
I loved the definition of greed that I found yesterday, and I’ll use it again today. Greed is the “self serving desire for the pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others.”
Paul says in Colossians to put to death greed, which is idolatry. Take a look in Genesis 3, and see where Eve’s greediness led her to eat the fruit that was forbidden, and share it with Adam. Greed has been going strong ever since.
How about Jacob deceiving Esau to sell his birthright, or Laban deceiving Jacob after working for 7 years to marry Rachel only to be given Leah instead. In 1 Samuel, Samuel’s sons take bribes and “pervert justice.” Finally, there is the ultimate betrayal when Judas betrays Jesus for twenty pieces of silver. Greed was the driving force in each of those instances.
Exodus 18:21 uses the term “dishonest gain.” I think that best sums up greed in 2 words. Too many people look to make a quick dollar, or strike it rich while doing as little work as possible. The thing about the definition of greed that jumps out me is the fact that greed is denying something to others. When we are greedy, we are taking something from someone else, robbing them of what is rightfully theirs.
In the Ponzi schemes I mentioned yesterday, how many people do you think watched their lives come apart and their life savings disappear? There is already one case of a woman who committed suicide.
Fortunately as believers, we know that our hope lies in Jesus Christ, not the riches of this world. He is our everything, and our hope of glory. All that we have belongs to Him. He created this world. He rules over this world. But as someone in their 20’s who is saving for retirement, I can’t imagine reaching the age of 65 to see all of my life savings wash away. Even though I place my trust in Christ alone, I can’t say it wouldn’t be painful to watch something I’d spent my whole life working for wash away.
Greed isn’t just restricted to money and finances. Greed shows itself in many ways. You can be greedy for attention, hurting others so that you will appear more favorable and receive more attention. Some people are greedy for acceptance. Others are greedy for fame. I’m sure the list goes on and on, but the bottom line is that greed is destructive. It destroys you and all of those around you. Without a doubt I have been guilty of being greedy in countless ways throughout my 26 years life, and I write this to be a reminder for me of what greed is capable of doing in someone’s life.
Any thoughts? What ways have you seen greed be destructive in your life or others?
I came across some interesting stuff today on a blog that I usually read. I read it occasionally to keep up with NBA stuff so that I can stay on top of my fantasy basketball league.
The actual story however comes from the NPR show “This American Life.”
In the radio espisode, the host talks to a man who is a professor at the Rotterdam School of Management. He does an experiment where he places some ”bad apples” in a group project. Here is a summary from a writer for Salt Lake Tribune.
He (the professor – Felps) organized four-person teams of college students who were given 45 minutes of management tasks to perform. There was a $100 per person prize for the team that did the best, so there was a healthy incentive for everyone involved.
As part of the experiment, Felps had an actor step into a team with another three unsuspecting members at times. The actor was trained — and I love this — to be a jerk, a slacker or a pessimist.
The jerk would put everyone else down in the group, saying things like, “Have you ever taken a business course before?” The slacker text messaged throughout and started eating in the middle. The pessimist acted as if his cat had died (seriously).
The thinking was that the group would be able to overcome this one individual. The opposite was true. Even with smart and talented people, the groups that included the bad apple performed 30 to 40 percent worse in completing tasks, according to Felps.
I find this extremely interesting. Can 1 person have that much influence over a group of very talented and smart individuals. Unfortunately they can. The articles I read go on to draw parallels to current NBA teams, but you can apply this to whatever line of work you are in.
This can be a scary thing, especially in churches. I truly believe that 1 person has the potential to crush everything. I’m sure that I’ve probably been a bad apple before in certain situations, and I probably will be again.
This article raised a lot of questions in my mind.
- How do you spot a bad apple
- How do you get rid of a bad apple
- How do you deal with one if you can’t get rid of it
- How do I keep from being a bad apple
I thought these links were too good not to share. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know your thoughts!
Filed under: Ramblings, lessons from... | Tags: car repair, car trouble, flat tire, maintenance, this sucks!
If you live anywhere in South Carolina, chances are that it rained all day last Wednesday. This was also the day where I happened to drive across a screw somewhere in between the house and work. As a proud member of AAA, I did what any real man would do – I dialed the phone, and asked them to come change my tire. I had a suit on and it was raining. I WAS NOT CHANGING THAT TIRE!
So once I got the little donut on, I drove to the tire place to get the tire fixed up. However, I wasn’t that lucky. The tire just barely pierced the sidewall, which totally ruined the tire. So I had to pay $98 to get a new tire. I learned that if I had paid $20 when I bought the tires that I would not have been charged for the new tire replacement. Lesson learned! Thankfully this place has always taken good care of me, and fixed my alignment for free as well. It just sucks that I had to pay for a new tire, when the old one was less than 6 months old. YIPEE!!
If you’ve ever picked up a Sports Illustrated and opened to the back page, then you know Rick Reilly. Well, he doesn’t write for SI anymore as far as I know. He and Dan Patrick switched places it seems. (Patrick is with SI now and Reilly writes for ESPN).
**If you are not a sports fan, don’t stop reading, this has nothing to do with sports**
I just read Reilly’s first article with ESPN the magazine and thought it was awesome.
The article tells of the relationship between Reilly and his alcoholic father. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so please check it out. I really think that there is a lot to be learned from this article.
“Golf taught me the lessons my dad never did, including the best one: You play life where it lies. You hit it there. You play it from there. Nobody threw you a nasty curve or forgot to block the defensive end. I learned that my mistakes were mine alone…”
So my friends, play life where it lies, don’t complain…take what you’ve been given and make the best of it.
