We often think about greed as wanting more. More money. More possessions. More of whatever we believe will make us feel secure or satisfied. But what does the Bible say about greed?
Greed certainly can look like an endless desire to acquire more. But as I’ve been studying greed, I’ve been thinking about another way it can show up in our lives:
Holding tightly to what we already have.
Maybe it’s our money or possessions. Maybe it’s our time, our opportunities, or even something good God has given us that we’ve started to think of as mine.
Why Greed Can Be So Hard to Recognize
Greed asks us to trust God not only with what He brings into our lives, but also with what He asks us to surrender.
And that may have nothing to do with money.
It might be our home. I like my comfortable, tidy home and belongings. Are there times I’m hanging onto that comfort rather than opening my home and sharing it with others?
Or maybe it’s my schedule. There are good reasons to protect margin and rest. But are there times I’m clinging to my free hours simply because they’re mine, when God may be asking me to use some of that time to fellowship, help, or serve someone else?
Where am I greedy by holding onto what I have and not wanting to share?
For me, that’s often much more likely to show up in the intangibles than in my actual possessions.
What Does the Bible Say About Greed? A Step By Step Study of Colossians 3:5
Colossians 3:5 (NIV) says:
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
That last phrase gets my attention.
Greed is idolatry.
In Colossians 3, the apostle Paul encourages believers to put off their old selves, so connected to the world, and put on their new selves as people being renewed in the image of God. In verse 5, Paul gives a list of things belonging to our earthly nature. Greed is on that list, and Paul calls it a form of idolatry.
When we define greed, we find the idea of a selfish or excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, especially money, wealth, food, or possessions. Other Bible translations use phrases like covetousness, unbridled desire, wanting more and more, and wanting something someone else has.
The original Greek word translated greed is pleonexia. It carries the idea of avarice or an excessive desire for gain. So we don’t want to miss this: greed absolutely includes wanting and acquiring more.
But there’s another way greed can show up in our lives that I want us to pay attention to: holding tightly to what we already have.
Some synonyms for greed include possessiveness, selfishness, and stinginess. And the antonyms are especially interesting: generosity, charitableness, openhandedness, and hospitality.
Those words invite us to consider greed from another direction. Instead of only asking, What do I want more of? we can also ask:
What am I unwilling to release if God asks me to?
Commentator William Barclay describes pleonexia as ruthless self-seeking and quotes C.F.D. Moule’s description of it as “the opposite of the desire to give.” The New Bible Commentary points us back toward Paul’s contrast between setting our hearts on Christ and seeking the things of this world. Matthew Poole similarly connects greed with craving and clinging to worldly things in ways that pull our hearts away from God.
And that helps us see why Paul makes such a strong connection between greed and idolatry.
Greed can reach for what we don’t have, but it can also close our hands around what we already possess. And sometimes the clearest evidence that something has become too important to us isn’t how badly we wanted to get it. It’s how tightly we hold onto it once it’s ours.
When our grip on something becomes more important than our willingness to trust and obey God, that thing can begin to occupy a place in our hearts that belongs to Him.
When God Asked Me to Let Go of Something Good
I experienced this with a good thing. A really good thing.
Until 2020, I taught Precept Bible studies for years, and we had such a great class. It was so good.
Did I say it was good?
It was good.
And around 2019, I heard God ask me to lay it down. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t understand.
And it took me about a year to obey.
This experience continues to be such an important spiritual marker in my life because it was a place where I thought something was mine that was really His.
And He wasn’t telling me what was next.
I don’t know if it would’ve mattered if He did. Those classes—I was so tied to them. I held on so tightly because I didn’t want to loosen my grip on something that brought me so much validation.
Over time, God uncurled my fingers one by one until I finally let it go. And I share this because it’s not always something bad we’re clinging to.
Greed can show up anywhere we want to keep possession of something more than we want to obey God.
Sometimes we don’t recognize how tightly we’re holding something until God asks us to open our hand.
Opening Our Hands and Trusting God
There’s a half-truth the enemy likes to whisper when we consider letting go:
If you let go of that, you won’t have enough.
Enough money.
Enough time.
Enough opportunity.
Enough security.
Enough validation.
But Psalm 23:1 (NIV) reminds us:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”
Greed tells us security is found in what we can hold onto. But King David reminds us that our security is found in our Shepherd.
If God asks us to open our hands, we can trust that we are still safely held in His.
I don’t have to hold tightly to what I have when I trust the One who provides what I need.
Something to Consider
What is hard for you to let go of?
Talk that over honestly with God. Why are you holding it so tightly? What are you afraid might happen if you loosen your grip?
Ask God to show you where something—even something good—may have become something you’re depending on for security, comfort, validation, or control.
Then allow Him to remind you that you can trust Him fully to take care of you.
Key Takeaway
We don’t have to hold tightly to what we have when we trust the One who provides what we need.
Listen to the Full Episode
🎧 #389 | Seven Deadly Sins: Why Greed Makes Us Feel Unsafe (and How God Teaches Trust)
In this episode of Understand Your Bible, we consider what the Bible says about greed, why Paul connects greed with idolatry, and how it can show up in the things we’re unwilling to release.