Greed

Over the summer I spent a lot of time at the water park with my son. Occasionally, my youngest sister would meet up with us and bring her daughter to play with Kaeden.

On one outing a child had left a toy Excavator at the water park.  Kaeden and his cousin Sophia spent a lot of time fighting over the Excavator that didn’t even belong to them. They were both prone to shouting out ‘mine’ as they attempted to wrench the toy from the other person’s hands. The Excavator didn’t even belong to them, but they were willing to fight over it.

As adults we think this type of behavior is kind of silly. We assume our children will grow out of it, but will they? Will we?

I mean, from a biblical perspective everything belongs to God. The earth is the Lord and everything it contains (Psalm 24).  

The universe and our earth, the air we breathe, our very existence is reliant on the creating and sustaining power of God. We are not here without God. God gives us minds to think, strength to work, and raw materials to cultivate.

If this is true, the ultimate arrogance is to stubbornly point at the stuff that litters our lives and say, ‘mine’! Then, as a race, to fight and kill and war over that which wasn’t even ours in the first place. One wonders, are we still children, just with more destructive toys? Does our race still have some growing up to do? I think so. 

To grow up is to realize that I am a steward, not an owner.

To grow up is to realize that this is God’s universe and I am not at the center.

To grow up is to realize that ‘mine’ is a poor, shadowy, idolatrous substitute for ‘thine’.

To grow up is to realize that my treasure is in heaven.

To grow up is to reason like an adult, but trust God like a child.

I hope to grow up soon.