Being rich toward God
Luke 12:16-21
16 And He told them this parable:
“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’”
20 “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?’
21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself;
but, is not rich toward God.”
In Luke Chapter 12:16-21, Jesus teaches this parable about a prosperous rich man. This man was so well off that he had to figure out where he was going to be able to fit all his crops and goods. So he says to himself, “I have so much food that the barns I have can’t hold it all. I guess I’ll just have to tear down my barns and build new ones.” The rich man thought that once he stored up enough wealth that he would be able to depend on that wealth and live an easy and carefree life. You know how God responded? He answered, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” And Jesus sums it all up by saying that this is how it will happen for the person who stores up things for themselves; but, is not rich toward God.
Now I don’t know about you; but that story really hits me. We so often forget all about God because we’re thinking so much about how to take care of ourselves. The way we handle our treasure, our energy and our time really reflects this.
Be honest, now – do you find yourself (as I do, more often than not) trying to figure out how much you “have to” give to God to just get by?
But, that’s not what God made us for. You see; He gave His own Son to save us. The more we dwell on that, the more our hearts will overflow with gratitude. God has been so rich to us in the Gospel and while we can’t ever repay Him for what he did, we can live gratefully in response. Whatever it is you have, go ahead, live richly toward God.
Today’s Generosity Challenge:
In today’s vernacular we don’t build bigger barns, we “move up” to a bigger house, a nicer car, more extravagant vacations. But, is that what God wants you to do? How can you stop the upward trend in the big things and small things? After all, if we are striving to a Generous Life, we need to be scaling down to bless others. Please journal your ideas for scaling down here at http://GenerousLife.net/Day22.
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