Of course not. Some years ago I talked with a friend who was concerned that he was guilty of gluttony. The problem wasn’t persistent hangovers, or missing work after being up all night partying. No, he was worried because he sometimes continued to eat after he had had sufficient. That ethic, that eating after you’ve had what you need was gluttony he had learned from a former diet guru whose empire collapsed when she embraced heresy. Still, the idea persisted.
It is not wrong to eat more than you need, nor is it wrong to have more than you need. There are, of course, gluttons, people whose entire lives center around the pursuit of sensual pleasure, who move from party to party. And there are people guilty of being acquisitive, of having an insatiable desire for more stuff, and who have the debt to demonstrate it. Neither the person who had two donuts during coffee hour at church, and who could afford to lose ten pounds, nor the person whose wrist watch cost more than a month of groceries for a family of four fall into those sinful categories.
The devil delights to lay traps for us in the ditches on both sides of the road. That way he can encourage behavior in one direction while pedaling guilt in the other. The Lord has laid on us a set of obligations. This is His law. Such requires of us that we return to Him a tithe of all He has blessed us with. It requires that we be good stewards of what remains. It also requires that we set aside a tithe so that we can purchase whatever our heart desires, steak and lobster dinners, well aged single malt, a wrist watch that costs more than a month of groceries for a family of four. Think I’m crazy? Read Deuteronomy 14: 22-27. It’s in there.
Just as there are those who tend to see wealth as a sign of God’s favor, so there are those who equate poverty with godliness. Proverbs, in its proverbial way, does say that God tends to bless those who are diligent and wise in their labors, and to bless them financially. And there are those who give up financial opportunities that are perfectly legitimate, for the sake of the kingdom. Just a few weeks ago I visited with a medical doctor whose wife is a medical doctor. Those two incomes would surely make this family “wealthy” by almost any standard. But they are giving all that up, and trying to raise money to serve as medical missionaries in western Africa. Good for them I say. Just as I would say if they ditched their medical careers to make a fortune investing in gold mines.
It is true that sins usually come with opposite sins. It is true as well that non-sins might lean us in the direction of real sins. But such cannot make sins of non-sins. Having nice things is no sin, and refusing nice things is no virtue. Ingratitude is a sin. Envy is a sin. Pride in one’s financial standing, on either side of the spectrum, is a sin. Godliness with contentment, that is great gain (I Tim. 6:6).