There are two interesting phrases in Colossians 3: “Don't be greedy, which is the same as worshiping idols,” and right after that phrase, “because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.”

Idolatry is forbidden all over the Old Testament, and for good reason. It was a common custom of world cultures to set up sacred stones and pillars associated with male and female deities and worship them. Generally, worship of these gods involved all kinds of deviant practices and lust-filled actions. Most of which are mild compared to what is taking place in our present culture.  

God had called His people to be different; to be separate from these kinds of practices. Idol worship of that day, no matter how powerful it made people, ended with the dire consequences of people being destroyed. The scriptures detail for us the historical fall of the nations that occupied what is now the modern Holy Land.  It describes for us their worship practices and their ultimate doom. Further, the Scriptures give an account of Israel and its lapse into idolatry and its ultimate demise. The book of Judges gives many accounts of Israel’s lapses; by the time you end 2 Kings and Jeremiah, you find that Israel has again fallen so deeply that it is taken captive to Babylon. Again, shortly after the time of Christ, Jerusalem was destroyed and the nation lay waste. All this history seeks to reveal something to our minds—idolatry has consequences and those consequences are not pleasant.  

So what is idolatry? Paul in Colossians makes it clear: greed is the same as idolatry. If greed possesses such power to destroy our lives, what is greed?  

The Greek word for greed is larger than the concept of the love of money; it is the root from which all sin grows, for greed leads a person to forsake God as the center of a person’s longing and to fill itself with all the lower created objects money can buy. It doesn’t bite the person who has money or who doesn’t have money, but it bites the person who doesn’t have God at the center of their heart, the one who is not sought as the satisfier of longings, instead creature comforts, human events and treasured objects become the center of happiness.  

So what can I do to keep my life free of “greed?”

1.    At all times keep yourself moving spiritually toward God. This means hold the worship of Jesus as your highest priority. When you walk into a weekend worship service, be serious about your singing and your heart. Be full throttle right from the start and rarely miss a weekend opportunity. Don’t become oblivious to the danger of greed by sitting home enjoying created objects, but make worship your highest priority. Beyond weekends, worship daily during your devotional time.  
2.    Keep scripture at the heart of your life. Listen to God speak to your heart through His Word and let the Bible; put a knife to your own desires that run away from His will.
3.    Own God’s kingdom purpose. Don’t allow your life to be full of what you want; again, that is nothing more than greed—keep God’s Kingdom purposes squarely at the center of your heart. God’s purpose is to search, find and redeem lost people.
4.    Have the community you live in on your heart. Be a giver of your life to those around you, learn to enjoy serving others.  

So let’s put to death the bad stuff within us that longs for objects—especially idolatry. Let’s live separate from all this and alive to God, which comes with a promise of blessing and escape.