Saturday, December 20, 2008

The Common Curse: Greed towards Advancement Vs. the Faith Blessing

How often do we get excited about a free meal? I mean, when we’re invited out to lunch or dinner, perhaps it’s a date with a partner or prospective partner, or to a meeting where a ‘nosh-up’ is part of the deal, there’s the bonus value of eating some nice food. For the host it’s often an ‘elegant tradeable’--a cheap way of getting us there.

Yet, how often do we sell out for so little? Proverbs says,

“To show partiality is not good—
yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.”
–Proverbs 28:21 (TNIV).

How often do we see it, people compromising in a moment’s silliness to gain what would be little of value in the overall scheme of things.

We hear of the insinuation that ‘He’d sell his grandmother for a piece of bread.’ I think reference to ‘a piece of bread’ is an exaggeration, but the general concept holds water.

The unfortunate fact is, the smallest gift or bribe or favour accepted often creates obligations not easily seen. We cannot often see what ‘strings’ others might attach.

Most of the time we need to be assertive regarding obligations others might impose on us beyond our will. But there will be times when the transaction is linked with an oath, and suddenly we’re obligated.

Perhaps the answer to the effect of one’s greed is to learn from the mistake, or do the following to free ourselves, as is mentioned in The Message:

“Dear friend, if you've gone into hock with your neighbor or locked yourself into a deal with a stranger,
If you've impulsively promised the shirt off your back
and now find yourself shivering out in the cold,
Friend, don't waste a minute, get yourself out of that mess.
You're in that man's clutches!
Go, put on a long face; act desperate.
Don't procrastinate—
there's no time to lose.
Run like a deer from the hunter,
fly like a bird from the trapper!” –Proverbs 6:1-5 (Msg).

The fundamental cause of our entrapment is often based in our own desire for advancement, recognition, comfort, or foolishness (we don’t see it coming).

It’s good to finally learn that ambition is generally not good, and has a way of actually reversing the process of advancement whilst simultaneously putting people on notice of our real intent. Getting to our goals without due regard, or adhering, to the appropriate processes is folly in the end. It never generally pays off.

“Desire without knowledge is not good—
how much more will hasty feet miss the way!” –Proverbs 19:2 (TNIV).

Greed and laziness have more in common than we first think. It is always good that we match our desires appropriately to knowledge. And this gets us back to faith and ‘fear of the LORD.’

“Evildoers do not understand what is right,
but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.” –Proverbs 28:5 (TNIV)

“[T]urning to Yahweh facilitates [makes easy] the difficult distinction between right and wrong. But this was surely not true only of the narrower sphere of moral behaviour. Faith does not--as is popularly believed today--hinder knowledge; on the contrary it is what liberates knowledge.”[1]

The faith/wisdom team help us have knowledge; knowledge tempers the desire of greed and ambition. Faith helps us also be patient. And knowledge helps with choice of the right path.

What we can be ‘bought for’ is a key to our integrity. Some things should never be up for sale, loaned or haggled over. Short cuts in life invariably don’t work out as short cuts; there are often painful consequences.

This issue is primarily about compromise. What are we prepared to give that shouldn’t be offered. And who are we offering it to? That too, is an important consideration. It is good to be alert and watchful.

Copyright © 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

[1] Roland E. Murphy, Proverbs – Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), p. 215. Murphy quotes G. von Rad, Wisdom, p. 68.

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