Luke 12: 13-21
Someone in the crowd said to
Jesus,
“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”
He replied to him,
“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”
Then he said to the crowd,
“Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable.
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”
“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”
He replied to him,
“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”
Then he said to the crowd,
“Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich,
one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable.
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”
You do not
see U-Hauls towed behind hearses. The only things you can take with you to
heaven are friends. May I live my life in such a way that I get other people to
heaven. This is the only thing that matters.
The
love of money is not the root of all evil. The love of self is. Every sin
chooses self over God. What then matters to God? God is agape – sacrificial
love. God wants us to love one another as he loves us. This is the only thing
that matters to God.
To love
someone is to will the best for that person. We are called to put the best for
someone ahead of our own selfish desires. Storing up abundance for myself for
tomorrow while my brother goes without today appears to serve my best interest.
I will not want come tomorrow. But is this really in my best interest?
Tomorrow
is not promised to anyone. The work I do for tomorrow could easily be in vain.
In storing up for tomorrow while my brother goes without today I am only
serving my selfish desire. When I selflessly give to my brother today I am
storing up treasure in God’s bank. When I put the immediate need of my brother
before my perceived future need I am willing the best for him. I am loving him
sacrificially. This finds favor in the Lord and is what is truly in my best
interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment