16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever. (1 John 2:16-17 CSB)

There are many things in this world that try to drag us away from God. But that is the world and while we are here now we are not of this earth.

We were made with a desire to possess. If we did not have this desire we would never do anything. But there is this line between possession and obsession. This is what our scripture today is addressing.

There is nothing wrong with pursuits in life. It is this desire that propells us along and when tempered a valuable part of our growth. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be or have more, unless we are simply stacking more on top of all we already have.

It is when we start stacking that possession becomes obsession. It is when we push beyond companship into desire. It is when our eyes are bigger than our stomach and we simply want more. It is when we allow our pride to create in us a feeling of superiority.

There is a fine line between heathy need and wantant obsession.