Why are people so greedy?

Because we’re people. The problem isn’t in the money. Which means, by the way, that one does not become more greedy than someone else by having more than someone else. Greed afflicts the rich and the poor and everyone in between. Our fallen humanity encourages the folly of greed in at least two ways.

First, and most obvious, because we are sinners we see ourselves as more important than others. We believe we are due more simply by virtue of being who we are, our august and deserving selves. That others may be in need is a problem. That problem will have to be solved with the wherewithal of someone other than me. I can’t be expected to get by on less because, well, let’s be honest, because I’m me.

The second form is harder to see, but just as common. Because we are sinners we think we should hold on to all that we have. We also think, however, that everyone who doesn’t share our priorities is obviously stupid and selfish, and, ironically, greedy. The unrivaled Dr. Thomas Sowell put it well when he wrote, “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.” We accuse others of greed because they don’t want to spend their money on the things we want them to spend their money on.

We seem to think that someone else’s failure to put their money where my mouth is is proof positive of their greed. If they weren’t holding on so tightly to all that filthy lucre they could put it in my clean hands. Or they could put it in the clean hands of those for whom I shill. Here’s my corollary to Sowell’s insight, “I have never understood why wealth makes a person greedy and that’s why we need to spread it around.” If money causes greed, giving money to others is like kissing them after finishing off the buffet at Wuhan Wings and Things.

How would you respond if I gave you this counsel? First, I want you to work hard. Second, I want you to give away ten percent of what you earn. Third, I want you, every year, to take ten percent of what you earn, whether it’s a little or a lot, the whole ten percent, and I want you to buy whatever you want. If you made $50,000 this year and want $5000 worth of the world’s best cabernet, then do it. If you made $1,000,000 and the original ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are $100,000 and that’s what you want, get those shoes.

This, by the way, is not actually my counsel. Instead it is God’s commands. Exodus 20:9 commands that we work hard. Malachi 3:10 commands that we pay our tithes. Deuteronomy 14:23-26 covers the third one, what some call “the party tithe.” If God tells you to buy, with ten percent of your income, what you want, and I tell you He wants you instead to give that ten percent to the poor, whom should you heed? Who is being greedy, you with your new stuff, or me with my sour posture toward your new stuff? Which of us is living in submission to God’s Word, and which of us is seeking to subvert God’s Word with our own? Which one of us needs to repent and believe the good news? That would be me.