If you've ever said to yourself: I wish I could do more for my church, for my spiritual life, for my family or for myself then ask yourself why you want those things. What motivates that desire? Is it love for God or love for greed?

Greed happens when we set our hearts on having an excessive amount of something. It’s not enough to just have a home, but I’ve got to have a home, and a boat, and a 4-wheeler, and a cabin up north. It’s not enough to have a steady job that meets my needs, but I’ve got to have a job, and a promotion, and a raise. It’s not enough to have friends, but I’ve got to be friends with everyon on Facebook, they have to like all my posts, and everyon has to like me and what I wear no matter what. This is all greed.

A greed has a terrible habit of choking off faith; choking off God's love from us so we live in fear and anger; or in ignorance or unbelief.

God’s mercy pushes greed out of our life. It does that by taking care of your greatest need: you have peace with God, you will not die for your sins, and you have eternal life. This gives you security to know that in the craziness of life, in the dark moments of sinfulness, God has not given up on you, but loves you with an immeasurable love. Then with your spirit at ease you can reject greed and keep your earthly treasures in a heavenly balance.

God’s mercy teaches us to reject the idea that money is for us to use as we please, like a toy. So we reject greed in all of its forms. We can reject this insatiable desire for more more more and replace it with God’s mercy. This is what balances us.

And when you are balanced then you can use money without being owned by money. You can evaluate how you spend your money. You can consider what worthwhile investments your money can make both in your life and the life of your family; and in your spiritual life and for the gospel.

In short, you can go your merry way, singing the song of grace in your heart, because you’re at peace with God and now, you can do more.