Greed is a subtle and deadly sin. It grows in our hearts like a weed that slyly slinks up from the ground, slowly choking the life of a garden. "Watch out!" Jesus says, "Be on guard against all kinds of greed" (Luke 12:15). He also warned, "No one can serve two masters, for he will either love one and hate the other, or he will devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon [money]" (Matt. 6:24). But we pay little attention to his warnings, because we don't think we're greedy—perhaps the truest sign that greed already has gripped our hearts! This is tragic, for the way of greed is the way of emptiness and death. It is why we have a culture of consumption, but feel like we can never get enough. It is why we talk of "moderation" while we live in extravagant abundance. And it is why we spend on ourselves instead of using what we have to love and serve those around us.

Yet there is hope in the gospel of grace. Jesus left the glories of heaven, becoming destitute for our sake, so that through him we might become rich in what truly matters: grace upon grace (2 Cor. 8:9). This grace changes hearts filled with greed into hearts filled with generosity. For when we grasp what we've been given by the grace of Jesus, we'll find it easier to let go of fleeting things (Heb. 10:34), and we'll learn that he wasn't lying when he said, "It is more blessed to give than receive" (Acts 20:35).