| Proverbs 23:1-5 – Gluttony Leads To Greed |
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. (Proverbs 23:1-5 ESV)
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he instructed the “love of money is a root of all kinds of evils,” and it is “through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith” (I Timothy 6:10). Interestingly, he calls the “love of money” a “craving”, if this is the case, we need to be vigilant, lest we begin to go the way of greed. Proverbs 21:1-5 assists us in this by beginning with a person sitting at the king’s table. It then tells those of us who are often controlled by our appetite to put a knife to our throats. This is because gluttony leads to greed. We start eating and acquiring more: more money, more clothes, more cars, and gradually what we have is insufficient in satisfying our greed.
As Christians we are called to lay up our treasure in heaven and not here on the Earth (Matthew 6:20). We each have things in our life we want just a little bit more of because we want more comfort, entertainment, status, or even security. We think we will in turn have stability and then need less and give more to God. This is not the case though. Examine those things according to Scripture and be certain you aren’t traveling the path of greed. For if we do, we will find our things “gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.”
What can you begin to live with less of today?
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http://shortdailydevotions.com/devotions/proverbs-2315-gluttony-leads-greed
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