A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs. Mark Twain (1835-1910).

Perhaps the best thing about getting older is that it provides you an opportunity to grow in your understanding of the human condition. It is easy when you are a young adult to think that you have a greater understanding of everything in the world than anyone else. However, as you begin to take on greater responsibility in matters like paying bills, raising children, and working in a career, you begin to see how you do not have all of the answers to the mysteries of life. You also learn that you and everyone around you possess certain personality characteristics which are either assets or detriments.

Eventually, you learn that personality characteristics that are usually an asset can, under certain circumstances, become detriments. There is no greater example of this than ambition. People totally lacking in ambition are difficult to understand and even to tolerate. Since most of us want to achieve certain things in our lives, when we come in contact with someone who has no real goals, no real desires, we find it difficult to identify with that person. We may not even be able to see why that person gets out of bed in the morning. Conversely, we admire people with ambition and usually try to associate ourselves with them. We want to be winners and be with others who are winners.

Ambition can help us go farther in our careers, acquire greater wealth, provide a better life for our families, positively influence other people, grow in our relationship with God, lose weight, and generally improve our earthly and spiritual lives. However, there can be a fine line between ambition and greed and where ambition can really be a positive force in our lives, greed is always destructive. One of the things that makes greed so dangerous is that it can be very difficult to differentiate from ambition. Is the person who spends long hours working at a job so they can advance and be paid more greedy or ambitious? Is the person who takes on the responsibilities of others and goes out of his or her way to learn new aspects of a company’s operation greedy or ambitious?

Most of us feel that so long as a person is willing to work for what they want, they are ambitious rather than greedy. We usually think of greed as simply wanting something which we have not earned. I think scripture makes it very clear that greed is more complicated than our standard definitions. For instance, when Jesus uses the parable of the farmer who has had such a bountiful crop that he sees a need to build greater barns to store his largesse, he is not using a person who has acquired wealth through anything other than hard work and good fortune. Yet this farmer is condemned because his greed is manifested by a desire to hoard what God has given him. Greed, therefore, is an expression of selfishness which is a characteristic completely inconsistent with those who have chosen to follow the one who gave up everything for others.

Ultimately, the difference between greed and ambition lies not so much in the actions taken, but the motivation behind those actions. Of course, only God can accurately judge the hearts of others. However, each of us can look inward and see what really drives us. What are we really trying to accomplish with our lives? It is a question that we need to honestly answer for ourselves before we receive the answer from God.

Apr. 30 IRS Party! Have you made that crafty item you are bringing to watch everyone drool over yet? Linda is coordinating the food for IRS party. Please give her a call.

Items for the friendship house this month are: Baby shampoo, lotion, wipes, diapers, etc..

Now collecting donations for Easter Baskets for the friendship house. See Julie 500-9552 for more info.

Secret Sister activities might resume in August. They will run for six months. This is the current plan. We need to know what you would like.

Please give us your thoughts on this plan. Contact Mary 532-7257 or Julie 500-9552

During the Korean conflict, Marguerite Higgins, an award winning reporter covering the war, asked a young soldier, “If I could give you anything in the world you wanted, what would you ask for?”

It was a freezing day. The soldier was eating out of a tin can. His face was a bit muddy. He thought about Miss Higgins’ question for a few seconds, and then replied, “Give me tomorrow.”

Christians are people who not only have today, but also have tomorrow. That is, because we are people who believe in the resurrected Christ, we believe that whatever comes, whatever happens to us in this life, we will be victorious. The Bible proclaims that “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54, NRSV).

Paul put it this way: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57, NRSV). We who trust in the God who raised Jesus from the dead have tomorrow already assured.

Patti Ikard’s mother passed on this week. Please keep Patti and her family in your prayers.

Bulletin 2005

  Our Bulletin