“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.”
I don’t think of myself as being greedy until I clean out my closet. I eat too much food, so some of my clothes don’t fit. For sure, I have more clothes than I need. We have more than 20 screwdrivers in the screwdriver drawer in our tool chest. How many screwdrivers do we need? So, I repent because I am greedy, but what good does it do to repent for being greedy if I keep buying more stuff and if I don’t share the stuff that I’ve overbought with others? (If you need a screwdriver, I’ll send you one!)
John the Baptist said we should produce fruit in keeping with repentance. The crowd doesn’t understand, so they ask, “What should we do?” John knows that most of us are greedy, so he tells the crowd they should share with someone who has nothing. Tax collectors in his day, collected more money than required for extra income, so he tells them to repent and stop that practice. Soldiers in his day falsely accused people of crimes and then required money to set them free. John is telling them to stop extorting money and falsely accusing people. He’s telling all of us to be content with the pay we earn and not to sin for extra money. When we stop doing what we are repenting for and give to others, we are producing the fruit of repentance.
Lord, I’m sorry I’m greedy. Help me consume only the food my body requires. Let me always think about whether I need what I’m buying. Help me share with others.
When someone is cheating someone else and taking something that is not theirs for their own benefit, I feel that it is greed. It is hard for me to think of greed as, I ate a second helping of mashed potatoes when I was already full. Or I have too many screwdrivers. Maybe you have lots of screwdrivers because you couldn’t find one when you needed it and you bought another. If you have too many, take the duplicates to Salvation Army. I see greed as something evil. So, maybe I don’t think about that in the right way? I know that there is a huge difference between a want and a need. I don’t think that it is a sin to want something. I think that it can become a sin if someones wants are getting them into financial trouble or they never share with anyone. I have a huge closet and it is filled with lots of clothes. I certainly don’t need all those clothes. Now that I am retired and I don’t need to dress for work I have been trying to go through the closet and give some of my clothes to others that need it more than I do. Is that my fruit of repentance?
I’m not sure what the boundaries of greed are. This particular passage states that if we are not happy with our income and try to get more in a way that harms another, we are greedy and if we are unwilling to share with others, we are greedy. There are people that have hundreds of pairs of shoes. Are they being greedy if they can afford it and if they are sharing with others? I don’t know. Are people that live in a 10,000 sq. ft. house being greedy if they can afford it? I don’t know the answer. But it is great that you are sharing your clothes with others. I think John the Baptist was trying to tell us that giving is a fruit of repentance no matter what we are repenting for. I could be wrong about that too. Perhaps it is only a fruit of repentance if we are repenting for being greedy??????
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I have been blogging for three years. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should repent and share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Wow, marvelous weblog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you make running a blog look easy. The full glance of your web site is great, as neatly as the content material!!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
I will be using Twitter shortly. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
I was wondering if you ever considered changing the structure of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
I always consider change. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hey there, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Ie, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, superb blog!
Thank you for your encouragement, heads us, and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Have you ever considered creating an ebook or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog based on the same ideas you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my visitors would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an email.
I would. If you subscribe to my devotionals, I will write you and we can share. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thank you
I would appreciate that. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say wonderful blog!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Howdy! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. When we are greedy and overbuy we should share with others. I prayed for you and your family and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody