GREED FOR CHRIST (28)
Scripture: Colossians 3:1-11
This content is part of a series.
Greed for Christ (28)
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 13
Christopher B. Harbin
Colossians 3:1-11
We live under an economic system that runs on greed. Greed is the basic fuel behind the structure of our economy. The profit motive is both something we abhor and something to which we extend great value. We praise and reject greed, even as our system wields greed as the motivating factor behind labor, industry, and our financial institutions. That we all want more, that we should want more, is a foundational principle of these structures. It is both the carrot and the stick we use to move our economy along and engage both our labor force and consumption in the process. What drives the spiritual aspects of our living? What is the fuel of our spiritual economy? Is there a correlate to greed for our faith and spirituality, some higher principle that would direct us and call us onward?
Paul offers us a glimpse of what should be the engine driving our faith in Colossians. To be sure, he poses the same concept in Ephesians, Philippians, and Romans, if in different words. He places our essential calling purpose as growing into Christ Jesus. In Ephesians it is growing unto the ‘‘Fullness of the stature of maturity in Christ.’’ In Philippians it is, ‘‘That I might gain Christ and be fully found in him.’’ In Romans, it is renewal through the transformation of our minds that we might grasp the full purpose of God as living sacrifices. In today’s passage it is turning our attention to seeking things from above, where Christ is raised and lives in God.
The words are very familiar. We have heard them time and again. We know them by heart. We are fully aware that as followers of Christ Jesus our lives are to be lived and directed by different forces, aims, values, and purposes than what we find touted in the world around us. Somehow, however, those wordly purposes seem more ingrained into our habits and perspectives than we would like to admit. We look to alternate definitio ...
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 13
Christopher B. Harbin
Colossians 3:1-11
We live under an economic system that runs on greed. Greed is the basic fuel behind the structure of our economy. The profit motive is both something we abhor and something to which we extend great value. We praise and reject greed, even as our system wields greed as the motivating factor behind labor, industry, and our financial institutions. That we all want more, that we should want more, is a foundational principle of these structures. It is both the carrot and the stick we use to move our economy along and engage both our labor force and consumption in the process. What drives the spiritual aspects of our living? What is the fuel of our spiritual economy? Is there a correlate to greed for our faith and spirituality, some higher principle that would direct us and call us onward?
Paul offers us a glimpse of what should be the engine driving our faith in Colossians. To be sure, he poses the same concept in Ephesians, Philippians, and Romans, if in different words. He places our essential calling purpose as growing into Christ Jesus. In Ephesians it is growing unto the ‘‘Fullness of the stature of maturity in Christ.’’ In Philippians it is, ‘‘That I might gain Christ and be fully found in him.’’ In Romans, it is renewal through the transformation of our minds that we might grasp the full purpose of God as living sacrifices. In today’s passage it is turning our attention to seeking things from above, where Christ is raised and lives in God.
The words are very familiar. We have heard them time and again. We know them by heart. We are fully aware that as followers of Christ Jesus our lives are to be lived and directed by different forces, aims, values, and purposes than what we find touted in the world around us. Somehow, however, those wordly purposes seem more ingrained into our habits and perspectives than we would like to admit. We look to alternate definitio ...
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