Daily Lesson for April 26, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17:

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever.

"Greed is good."

That's what the character Gordon Gekko infamously said in the 1987 film "Wall Street".  Everyone watching knew it was a deceit.

Or did they?

For 2,000 years greed has been seen as a universal vice in Western culture. Yes, there were plenty greedy people, but nobody liked a greedy person and very few wanted to admit to being greedy. 

But then, somewhere around 1987, a lot of people started thinking that Greed is good. 

Why?

When sociologists look back on the latter part of the 20th and early 21st centuries and they see what happened with the rise of wealth disparity and and the mess that was created with the Great Recession, they will point to greed. And the really astute ones will make the connection between the rise of Greed and the decline of regular religious attendance.

If you go to church or synagogue and hear the Bible read week in and week out then there's really no way you can in good conscience ever say, "Greed is good."  If you can, then your church is skipping over a whole lot of pages in the Bible.

Wealth in and of itself is not bad. But Greed is not good. It's not good for the community.  And, it's not good for the greedy either. In fact, it's absolutely destructive to both.

"Greed is good."  Gordon Gekko said that.

And so did the devil.