Have you seen the bumper sticker that says, “He who dies with the most toys, wins!”? Well, I saw another bumper sticker – “He who dies with the most toys – still dies”.
One of the things that defines our culture, is materialism. We have had so much for so long that we have begun to think that God owes us a materially abundant life. In 2 Timothy 3, God describes the “last days” culture as a time of peril. He lists 19 things that will characterize the “last days” society. And He begins this list by saying, “For [people] shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous…” After selfishness, God says that the last days culture will be covetous.
Like “lovers of self,” the word covetous is a compound word beginning with philos, which means “lover of…”. It is the word philarguros – “lover of money”. Arguros is the Greek word for silver; hence, the word for money, which is made out of silver.
“Lovers of money” means that the Last Days culture will be characterized by an avaricious spirit — lovers of money (and everything that can be bought with money). We are a materialistic society that thinks that life consists of the abundance of things which we possess.
Well, this is certainly true of our culture in America. Credit cards and the credit system have buried the American people in an avalanche of consumer debt. The old joke, “Did you hear about the woman who had plastic surgery? Her husband took away all her credit cards” is probably too true to be funny anymore. We are a people who not only have to have what we want – we have to have it NOW.
So let me ask you, “How are you doing with regard to a covetous spirit?” To some extent we’re all plagued with this malady. But God doesn’t want us to be that way. He wants us to love Him more than we love the things we possess. So don’t be a lover of self, and don’t be a lover of money.
Say – The more you accumulate, the more you will leave when you die. You can’t take it with you, you know!