Have you ever worked alongside someone more successful than you?

Someone whose reputation opened doors that you could never have opened yourself?

The temptations of borrowed popularity can be subtle and devastating.

Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindall explores one of history's most cautionary tales.

It's from our series called Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives.

Today we'll meet Gahazi, a trusted servant who had everything to gain and everything to lose.

His story reveals how secret greed can destroy even the most privileged positions.

And Chuck's message will challenge anyone who's ever rationalized taking what isn't theirs. We're involved in a series on great stories from the Old Testament in our days together around God's word.

And this evening, I would like for us to focus attention on the helper who got greedy.

Before we look at Second Kings chapter five together, I want to say some words that will sort of set

the stage for this tragic story of this particular man. Among the unruly and untameable

monsters of our minds is secret greed. It's bad enough to do battle with overt demonstrations of greed, but it is almost unbearable

to squelch the smoldering embers of secret greed.

The deception of it is that it is secret.

It is not something one talks about. We don't look greedy very often,

and we certainly do not hear many people stand to their feet and confess, I am a greedy woman,

or I am a greedy man. Let me go back many years in my life when I was first getting underway in ministry.

It was my choice privilege to work alongside a very gifted man of God.

He was all the things I was not. He was scholarly. He was well versed in the scriptures. He was seasoned as a preacher and profound as a teacher. He was a man who was therefore in great demand.

His popularity was strong.

Wherever he went, it seems there were crowds.

Though I never once knew him to deliberately attempt to draw a crowd.

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