I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Acts 20:33-35(NIV)
The vice of greed stems from the lie of the enemy that you are not enough and you do not have enough therefore you should grab more and everything.
It started in the garden where God had told Adam and Eve that all the trees in the garden were theirs to eat from except one which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But the enemy talked them out of focus on God’s abundance and generosity of all the rest of the trees in the garden and pointed out to them the tree of not enough.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the mindset of not enough. It is the mindset of greed. It is the world and its pursuits. 1 John 2:16(AMPC) For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things] –these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].
In order to free man from the tree or mind of greed, God became man and died on the cross – the tree of generosity where He freely richly gave His all. For God so loved that He gave His all, His only begotten Son.
Any area where greed is disturbing us the cure is seeing God’s generosity. As we experience God’s overflowing generosity towards us first, we can overflow in the same towards others. When we know He freely gave us all things to enjoy then we can freely share all with others.