P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

“YOU CAN HAVE TOO MUCH!”

Have you caught the “Affluenza” bug? Its name is formed by combining two words: affluence + influenza. Our sources give some definitions:

Affluenza: “A painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” (John DeGraff)

Affluenza: 1. “The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses.” 2. “An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the dogged pursuit of the American Dream.” 3. “An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.” (PBS)

Or finally, as the Bible would define the word, Affluenza:
1. “Greed”; or 2. “Covetousness”.

Now here is a quick self-diagnostic true/false quiz to see if you might have the disease of Affluenza:
1. When I’m feeling blue, I like to go shopping and treat myself.
2. I’m willing to work 40 years at a job I hate so I can buy lots of stuff.
3. I usually make just the minimum payment on my credit cards.
4. I believe that whoever dies with the most toys wins.
5. I don’t measure my self-worth (or that of others) by what I own.

O.K. friend, let’s see how you did. If you answered “true” to any of the first four questions, you could indeed have a case of Affluenza. If you answered “true” to the last question on self-worth, there’s hope for your recovery.

By now you may be thinking out loud, “Is this a joke, or what?” Trust me, it’s no joke. It’s a somewhat light-hearted approach to a serious condition.

“Affluenza” is the catchy name used as the title of a PBS special program that first aired September 15, 1997. It focused on the “modern-day plague of materialism and overconsumption” in our culture, and examined the high cost of achieving the most extravagant lifestyle the world has ever seen.

In 1996 Americans, who make up only five percent of the world’s population, used nearly a third of its resources. Add overwork, personal stress, the erosion of family and community, skyrocketing debt, and the growing gap between rich and poor, and it’s easy to understand why some people say the American Dream is no bargain. Many are opting out of the consumer chase, and making “voluntary simplicity” a growing trend.

Greed, a.k.a. covetousness, is not just a modern day problem. It’s as old
as the Garden of Eden; it is universal -- it infects every human being. No one is free from the sin of covetousness. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain.” (Jer. 6:16)

Coveting is lusting after what we don’t have. It’s wanting for ourselves what someone else owns. We get caught between our wants and our needs. Even too much is never enough.

Covetousness is like cancer, one of the most dreaded of all diseases. As the cancer cells in the body multiply and can cause death, so the uncontrolled growth of greedy wants eventually choke the spirit and kill the soul.

Jesus shares the parable of the “Rich Fool” in Luke 12:13-21 (NIV). You might say, he had a terminal case of covetousness. Let’s listen to the story, then discuss it together.

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed (in the KJV, it reads, “beware of covetousness); a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do” I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (NIV)

Did you notice the incident that led into Jesus’ parable? It started with squabbling brothers arguing over inheritance issues. Isn’t it sad when families fight like this, ripping themselves apart due to resentment and greed? These guys should have set their sights on an eternal, heavenly inheritance. Instead, they wanted Jesus to help settle the score here and now on the earthly treasure they each thought should be theirs.

Jesus modeled an action plan for all who minister in His name. Only the gospel of His grace can cure the evils of this world. Only Jesus can remedy the sins and sorrows of this sick world.

Writer Ellen G. White put it this way, “The injustice of the rich toward the poor, and the hatred of the poor toward the rich, alike have their root in selfishness, and this can be eradicated only through submission to Christ. He alone, (in exchange) for the selfish heart of sin, gives the new heart of love. (COL, p. 254)

So the Lord stayed the course by getting to the spiritual root of the greed problem. “Beware of covetousness,” He said. Your life is not measured by how many possessions you have.

Now we get into the story of the foolish rich man, where Christ shows the folly of those who make this world their focus. Everything this man had came from God. He had been abundantly blessed by God. But he didn’t even think of God, he didn’t realize that God had blessed him, so that he could help those in need. This man was totally focused on himself

This rich fool knew there were great needs that he could have helped with. He had more than enough, and to spare, for his own comfort. He easily could have been a blessing and an answer to prayer for many poor, hungry, sick people…providing them with the food, clothing, and other necessities they desperately needed.

But instead, he chose to tear down the old barn and build bigger barns in order to hoard his bumper crop. This gave him a hefty retirement account so he could enjoy the good life. Eat, drink and be merry! He wasn’t counting on dying that very night. The wealth he spent all his life working for was suddenly worthless.

How different it would have been if this man had chosen the gift of God’s love and life eternal.

What good are the “Trump Towers” of life, if you miss out on the “many mansions” of heaven?

Now friend, it’s not wrong to be rich! Wealth can be a great blessing, a gift from God – and a powerful force for good. Money is not evil. It’s what you do with it that counts. It’s the love of money – selfishly hoarding it for yourself -- that’s the root of all evil. Where your treasure is, your heart is.

In Charles Dickens’ classic story A Christmas Carol, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge reminds me very much of the foolish rich man in Jesus’ parable. Scrooge cares nothing for the people around him, and mankind exists only for the money that can be made. He particularly detests Christmas, which he sees as ‘a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer’. Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley who died seven years prior.

Marley, who was also a miser, is suffering the consequences in the afterlife and hopes to help Scrooge avoid his fate. He tells Scrooge he will be visited by three spirits—the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. They succeed in showing Scrooge the error of his ways, and the transformed Scrooge sends a Christmas turkey to his impoverished clerk, Bob Crachit, raises his salary, and assists his family, which includes Bob’s crippled son, Tiny Tim.

It’s hard not to shed a tear as little Tim declares at the holiday table, “God bless us, everyone!”

One major theme in the book sprung from Dickens’ observations of the plight of the children of London’s poor. Thousands of them lived in unimaginable poverty, filth and disease. In 1839, it was estimated that nearly half of all funerals in London were for children under the age of ten. Those who survived grew up without education and no chance to escape the cycle of poverty.

In A Christmas Carol, the twins named “Ignorance” and “Want” represent London’s poor children, who appear to Scrooge with the warning:

“This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.” The children these characters represent are a far cry away from many of America’s children here in the 21st century, in a market-driven culture that encourages kids to be “material girls and boys.”

Yet in stark contrast are the fast growing numbers of poor, hungry and homeless children here in our own country. And around the world, the extreme poverty and suffering of children due to starvation, disease, war and abuse is unimaginable.

This very day, Jesus calls on us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take in the homeless, and visit those who are sick or in prison.

To live for self is to perish. The cancer of covetousness cuts the soul off from life. It is the spirit of Christ to give, for the good of others. “God is love, and love is life.”

May the Lord heal our selfish hearts, and help each one of us to share, to care, and to love. Friend, this is my prayer for you and me today! Amen.