Being Greedy Shrinks Your Confidence
The above title is a New Bookjust launched with my friend and
colleague Jenn Chloupek.
Enjoy an excerpt below taken from our new release:Stop Letting the World Be the Boss of You!
This is as an interactive faith based book created spiritual growth and
development. Summer is a fun time to renew and refresh your soul.
- Do you feel pushed around by events and people in your life? Is the world the boss of you?
- Tired of worrying about what people think of you?
- Feel like a cat toy that is tossed about by opinions and status?
- Ever lay awake at night worried about how things will turn out or why things happen as they do?
- Do you rise and fall emotionally based on positive and negative feedback from others?
You have been hijacked:to steal by seizing; to take over and use for different purposes.It’s identity theft at the highest level: your life.
Greed Breeds Anxiety & Shrinks Confidence
Dear Lord, open my heart and mind to your unselfish ways. You served others over your own needs. You continually loved in the face of hatred. May my motives be rooted in your love for me for I cannot give out what I have not experienced within. Help me to put to death all of the faces of greed in my life. Make me aware of the tricky spots that greed hides behind when it comes to my behavior. I find myself at a place of generosity when it is convenient and fits in with my to-do list. Move me to generosity with my time, assumptions, and behavior. I want to make You recognizable in this world. Have your way with me in spite of myself.
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people” (Ephesians 5:3).
Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. The etymology of the word greed, speaks of a voracious hunger for food and/or money.
The definition of anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event with potentially unfavorable effects.
Below is a real story from my journey that pulls greed (intense desire for something) and anxiety (nervousness about an imminent event of something with an uncertain outcome) together:
“I sat in my oncologist’s office as he described the potential effects of the chemotherapy I would be starting that week. One BIG FAT ramification lingered in my mind: in two weeks I was told I would lose all of my hair, possibly eyebrows/eye lashes. With hair halfway down my back this was a terrifying thought. Anxiety was roaring through my veins like a hungry lion devouring my inner peace and confidence. Why? Because I had an intense desire to keep something I might lose, so much so that it robbed me of inner freedom that comes from my soul’s knowing: I am not my physical appearance and peace would return as I released this intense longing. I never realized that I was greedy for hair until I lost it.”
Now, you may say, “I don’t blame you for wanting to keep your hair, I think everyone would feel that way, what’s wrong with wanting that?” Nothing, until the longing starts to rob your inner peace and confidence which directly impacts how you show up in life.
Greed breeds anxiety which creates insecurities, heaviness on the heart and discontentment.
Have you ever experienced greed (a selfish and intense desire for something) resulting in anxiety (worry, nervousness that you might not get what you intensely desire) in the following areas?
Time:An intense and selfish desire for another person’s time or attention? Or greedy when it comes to your time that results in anxiety: “Stop interrupting ME … can’t you see I am busy?” … that’s worth reflecting on this week.
Possessions:Comparing and envying what others have resulting in greed for more stuff? Sometimes it’s as simple as greed for warm water and you are emotionally spun when it runs out because other members of the household used it all up. In the office there is plenty of earth school opportunities to practice letting go of greed. Greed can wrap its boney little claws around an insatiable desire to possess responses from other people: the need to be right, liked and understood, or possess the “badge of honor”, whatever that honor happens to be in the moment.
Power:An intense desire to control your status, popularity, and especially other people. Greed has a hay-day in this space resulting in a ton of unnecessary anxiety.
The inner dialogue of greed sounds like: I need more (time, money, space, attention, validation); It’s not enough.
Greed walks hand in hand with victimization and often results in a massive pity party.
When encountering people with physical limitations Jesus would speak to the healing and release: pick up your mat (Luke 5:24); throw off your cloak (Mark 10:50); take off the grave clothes (John 11:43).
Reflect on the following questions:
- Where do you recognize greed in your life?
- Identify specific attitudes that Edge God Out of your behavior when it comes to being greedy with your time? Attention? Space? Money? Possessions? For example, I get greedy with my time when I have a deadline on a project. The attitude is self-centered focus. The behavior that shows up uninvited is stone walling people that interrupt me.
Explore the following scriptures on greed and invite the Holy Spirit to adjust a specific behavior you have identified in your life that is associated with being greedy and results in anxiety.
“Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’” (Luke 12:15).
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
Refresh Your Identity in Christ
- Observe how the heaviness of anxiety robs your peace and confidence in Christ as a result of the serpent of greed this week. Greed slithers into your facial expressions, body language, and intonation restricting how you show up in life resulting in a heavy version of you. Look out for the ugly behavior that crashes the scene when greed is restricting your perceptions as it commonly fuels mind-reading and impoverished assumptions, not based in reality but fueled by an insatiable desire for more … it will literally suck the life out of you and those around you.
- Nail down one behavior you can identify that shows up in the presence of greed. Write it down and run it up “Weakness Mountain” (a powerhouse technique taken from theSherpa Process Driven Executive Coaching Program). In a nut shell:Acknowledgethe behavior (confess it to the Lord) =>Observewhen it shows up in your behavior =>Change the behavior(invite Jesus into the behavior and ask for the strength to replace the unwanted behavior with a behavior that aligns with your identity in Christ) =>Evaluate(what do you notice to be different as a result of implementing the new behavior, and Christ like attitude? What are the ramifications of that intentional shift?
- Invite the Holy Spirit into your anxiety flare ups this week. Notice if greed is playing a role when it comes to having an intense desire for something to be a certain way. For example, you start a project and get interrupted by someone who needs a piece of information that only you have access to. Notice if anxiety kicks in and along with-it ugly behavior. If this is the case know that greed for time and space is at play. This exercise does not negate the importance of healthy boundaries rather it is to bring attention to the antics of greed in daily life and the anxiety it produces. Generosity is a worthy character trait to explore in the face of greedy flare ups in life.
“Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’” (Luke 12:15).
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
Dear God, those who give generously of their time, talents, and treasure in life will prosper and be refreshed (Proverbs 11:25). Perhaps the prosperity that You speak of comes in the form of profound peace, contentment, and joy. I give You permission to sift my interior world and reveal to me the strongholds of greed that create undue anxiety and stress in my life. I am nothing without You. Greed comes from feeling that I do not have enough of something, therefore an intense selfish desire for it begins to overtake my moral compass and I find myself occupying the space of selfish ambitions (Philippians 2:3) and sleepless nights. Override me Lord for your purposes. Remind my mind that in You I lack nothing. Move me to go for what You have tasked me to do in life 100% and be attached to nothing but You; my heart in your heart, my will consumed by yours. Get thee behind me greed, I am a child of God.
L.O.V.E. Learning Circle: Clarity of Focus Leads to Accuracy of Response:
L:Learn & Listen:What’s in this verse or phrase, tip or technique that will help me anchor my identity in Christ more today than yesterday?
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O:Observe:My 1–3 gold nuggets I want to remember and pull into behavior:
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V:Visualize:Visualize integrating the meaningful verses and messages into your daily life. What will you notice to be different in your thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors?
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E:Explore:Explore one specific forward action step you commit to taking in the coming days to help anchor your identity in Christ. Explore what you will notice to be different personally and professionally as you apply today’s learnings.
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Support Resources for Professional & Personal Excellence:
- Keynote Speaking Programs
- Faith Based Coaching:Edge God In Podcast: How to Tame the Tongue
- Health Tip from My Journey: Take two table spoons of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar in Water before bed. Add a couple shakes of turmeric spice and some pepper (needed for the body to absorb the turmeric) stir it up and enjoy ; ) Helps to balance glucose levels, lower inflammation and more good stuff!
Enjoy your gift of life,
When priorities are clear,
decisions are easy.
