Which of our appetites are we feeding? The person who feeds the need to be in control will not be satisfied with just a little control over another. It will increase and become more intrusive and autocratic. This was true of Louis XIV who became king when he was 5 years old and whose autocratic tendencies increased.
Are we feeding the need to have others pay our way? South Carolina’s officials decided to let the federal government spend its own money to finish Fort Sumter before they captured it. Had they chosen to immediately take a half-finished Fort Sumter, it could have been extremely difficult for Lincoln to have rallied the North to fight for the Union. Their delay, rooted in greed, proved very costly. Similarly, in the 1500s, Spain received so much gold and silver from their overseas empire that they invested it in further expansion instead of building infrastructure to help their people. We, too, can feed our appetite for expansion – a bigger house that requires a second job to pay for, greater career or ministry goals that require more of our time, increased activity in various causes – and impoverish ourselves at home in our marriage or family. These can all be forms of greed, which is idolatry (Col 3:5).
Saint Francis de Sales said, “He to whom God is not adequate is very greedy.” What we should be feeding is our hunger to be more intimate with Him. We should be greedy, if you will, for a closer walk with Him. We ought to long for the Lord as the deer longs for water (Ps 42:1), seek Him with all our hearts(Jer 29:13), desire earnestly His spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14:1). Isn’t He enough to fulfill our best longing? He should be.
Instead of being timid, learn to be appropriately bold.