God has no problem with people profiting from their own efforts. Did He not command Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 to “Be fruitful”? Is being fruitful not the same as being profitable? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “profit” as “the excess of returns over expenditure…,” the inference being one’s own expenditures as opposed to the expenditures of others. To be fruitful in God’s eyes is to end up with more than what you started with, and to gain from your own efforts. One can gain from being fruitful, but one also gets gain through greed.
The Bible draws a line between profit and greed. Greed has several meanings in the Bible, with one of them coming up quite early. In Genesis, Abel gives God an offering of a sheep that he himself raised. Before this effort of his, he had no sheep, but his efforts enabled him to gain sheep, so now he offers one of them to God. Cain, on the other hand, makes an offering to God of a plant he pulls up from the ground. Cain had no part in growing that plant. In fact, the plant was God’s doing, not a result of Cain’s efforts.
God looks at the two offerings; he gives Abel his blessings, and He favors Abel over Cain. Cain, upset at being excluded, asks God why. God in Genesis 4:7, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” That is, if Cain offers something of his own efforts, rather than of someone else’s efforts, would he not be accepted? In God’s eyes, Abel was being fruitful, but Cain demonstrated a form of greed. To be sure, Jude 1:11 says “Woe to them! For they walked in the way of CAIN and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error.”
So, there is another kind of greed which results in turning away from God, such that the desire for gain is to the exclusion of God rather than in walking with God. Gain solely for the sake of gain is evil, for those who so endeavor are serving other gods. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY.”
Is it a sin to be rich? I tell you that it is one thing to end up being rich through fruitful endeavors, but it is another thing to strive to be rich for the sake of richness. In a sense, 1 Timothy 6:6…8-10 would consider being rich through fruitful endeavors as having enough as opposed to being rich, although some may regard you as being rich depending on how much you have. That passage says, says, “godliness with contentment is great gain... But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. IT IS THROUGH THIS CRAVING THAT SOME HAVE WANDERED AWAY FROM THE FAITH AND PIERCED THEMSELVES WITH MANY PANGS.”
Under God, being rich through righteousness is relative…while a person may be content in having enough “food and clothing,” figuratively speaking, the person may not see themselves in those terms…But others, in comparing themselves with that person, may see that person as being rich. This person who, while being regarded as rich, has been fruitful. On the other hand, if a person strives to be rich, rather than to have what they would believe to be enough, his motives under God may be called into question. His neighbors may regard him as being greedy.
A fruitful person has acquired their gain in the love of God and their neighbors. A greedy person has acquired gain solely for the sake of gain and also at the expense of others, and in so doing, causes strife among those who love God and eachother. Proverbs 28:25 says, “A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched.”
A person who is diligent in their work rightfully deserves the value that work yields, whether it’s five thousand dollars, fifty-thousand dollars or five hundred thousand and above. This person is an Abel. A person who takes the value of someone else’s work or takes someone else’s belongings while giving up no value for what they have taken, is greedy and therefore is a Cain.
The Bible draws a line between profit and greed. Greed has several meanings in the Bible, with one of them coming up quite early. In Genesis, Abel gives God an offering of a sheep that he himself raised. Before this effort of his, he had no sheep, but his efforts enabled him to gain sheep, so now he offers one of them to God. Cain, on the other hand, makes an offering to God of a plant he pulls up from the ground. Cain had no part in growing that plant. In fact, the plant was God’s doing, not a result of Cain’s efforts.
God looks at the two offerings; he gives Abel his blessings, and He favors Abel over Cain. Cain, upset at being excluded, asks God why. God in Genesis 4:7, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” That is, if Cain offers something of his own efforts, rather than of someone else’s efforts, would he not be accepted? In God’s eyes, Abel was being fruitful, but Cain demonstrated a form of greed. To be sure, Jude 1:11 says “Woe to them! For they walked in the way of CAIN and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error.”
So, there is another kind of greed which results in turning away from God, such that the desire for gain is to the exclusion of God rather than in walking with God. Gain solely for the sake of gain is evil, for those who so endeavor are serving other gods. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY.”
Is it a sin to be rich? I tell you that it is one thing to end up being rich through fruitful endeavors, but it is another thing to strive to be rich for the sake of richness. In a sense, 1 Timothy 6:6…8-10 would consider being rich through fruitful endeavors as having enough as opposed to being rich, although some may regard you as being rich depending on how much you have. That passage says, says, “godliness with contentment is great gain... But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. IT IS THROUGH THIS CRAVING THAT SOME HAVE WANDERED AWAY FROM THE FAITH AND PIERCED THEMSELVES WITH MANY PANGS.”
Under God, being rich through righteousness is relative…while a person may be content in having enough “food and clothing,” figuratively speaking, the person may not see themselves in those terms…But others, in comparing themselves with that person, may see that person as being rich. This person who, while being regarded as rich, has been fruitful. On the other hand, if a person strives to be rich, rather than to have what they would believe to be enough, his motives under God may be called into question. His neighbors may regard him as being greedy.
A fruitful person has acquired their gain in the love of God and their neighbors. A greedy person has acquired gain solely for the sake of gain and also at the expense of others, and in so doing, causes strife among those who love God and eachother. Proverbs 28:25 says, “A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched.”
A person who is diligent in their work rightfully deserves the value that work yields, whether it’s five thousand dollars, fifty-thousand dollars or five hundred thousand and above. This person is an Abel. A person who takes the value of someone else’s work or takes someone else’s belongings while giving up no value for what they have taken, is greedy and therefore is a Cain.
