Theme: GREED
Text: “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.” – Proverbs 21:25, 26.
Comment: It is a fact of life that sometimes some persons because of greed, covet people’s property for themselves to make up for their own lack of means, The text for today shows that a greedy person keeps coveting peoples’ property/possession, and this is as a result of the person’s laziness or slothfulness to work for his/her own. Christians must rise against the craving for what belongs to others or the desire to have everything for themselves to the detriment of other people. In this regard, King Solomon admonished us not to be indolent but to give ourselves to diligent labour so as to genuinely acquire wealth for ourselves. “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” (Proverbs10:4) Greed causes quarrels, wars, enmity among people and nations. (James 4:1-2) It has also been listed as one of the causes of the First World War.
Greed leads one to steal. (Proverbs 1:10-19) Solomon warns that we should refuse to be enticed by greedy people who invite us to join them to violently rob people so as to get a lot of money and precious things. “My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood…So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.” – Proverb 1:10-19.