READ THIS: Luke 12:13-21
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 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.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 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 my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain 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 whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?
This conversation and parable focus on worldly riches. Back then, the riches that most people would think of were money, crops, animals, and land... for us, we can certainly think of money, but it could also look like a nice house, a great reputation, lots of followers on Instagram, and more. In verse 15, Jesus tells a man (and also us) to be on guard for all kinds of greed. We can certainly be greedy for money, but we can also be greedy for power, fame, and other things. Jesus says that "life does not consist in an abundance of possessions," which is basically a way of saying that life isn't just about what you have, it is also about how you choose to live!
Then Jesus gives a story about a man who takes all the money and food he has and stores them up in a brand new, massive barn. For us today, it could look like a man who just won the lottery deciding to buy a brand new mansion and filling it up with all sorts of things he loves: a bunch of new cars, a massive TV, a basketball and tennis court, a fancy indoor pool... oop, that's just things that I would like... but you get the point, right? But that very night, the man dies! All those riches and things that he chose to give to himself are ultimately given to no one because he chose to live selfishly.
In the same way, if we are not careful, we can live selfish lives. Maybe we won't have a brand new barn or an indoor pool, but we do have lots of riches in our lives right now! We are rich in friendships, time, influence, and other things... but how are we using our riches? If we keep them to ourselves, they may feel nice for a time, but they are ultimately just false riches that won't last. But if we choose to give what we have away freely to both God and those around us, we will store up true riches in heaven that won't ever leave us.
THINK ABOUT IT:
1.What are you rich in right now? Have you ever considered that God may be giving you a lot of something so that you can give it away?
2. Why is it important for us to give what we have to others? What is the danger of living selfishly?
TRY THIS:
Think of something that you could give away today to someone who needs it, then do it! If you can, give away without them even knowing it was from you!
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