Luke 12:13-21

 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”  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.”   And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’  “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’   “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (NIV)

We can sometimes struggle with earthly possessions, especially money. But those who depend  solely on earthly possessions, and don’t realize that all our belongings are God’s, God calls fools.  If we focus more on what we can acquire in heaven, we will not need to rely on earthly items.

Greed is when someone relies on what they have acquired in their lifetime.  When Jesus tells the parable of the man who had earthly wealth, the man did not realize that the wealth was a gift from God.  God in the end of this parable takes away a greater gift from the man, the gift of his own life.  Jesus tells this parable so that we may learn to be thankful of God’s gifts that he’s given to us.

Sometimes in our lives we take for granted the gifts that God has given to us.  God gives gifts to everyone, whether its wealth, possessions, or things that you’re good at.  We in our lives need to remember that God has given those gifts to us, not that we have the things because of what we have done.  Do not be like the fool in the parable and believe that you have done well for yourself; believe that God has given you the gifts that you have.  And when you don’t have a wealth to live on, you must trust that God will provide for you.  God has given the greatest gift to everyone, the gift of eternal life through his son.  God gives us possessions in heaven to live with forever.  We may not have earthly richness but in heaven we will have the richness of God’s love.

Questions

How can we in our lives today trust that God will provide for us?

Why do you think that God provides more to some people than others?

How has God blessed your life with gifts?