Luke 12:13-21 Trust in God, Not Possessions

Luke 12:13-21 Trust in God, Not Possessions

Someone in the crowd said to him, "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 the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God."

The individual who speaks in the beginning of this passage must have joined the gathering late. He asks Jesus to adjudicate a dispute between him and his brother about money – something that Jesus couldn’t less about. Jesus then proceeds to tell the parable about the man who spent literally every day of his life building his wealth. On the very night he finally felt he had arrived – his life was taken from him. Jesus finishes this passage by saying that is the way it works with a man who grows rich for himself instead of growing rich in the sight of God. We may think we have time to serve two masters, our ambitions and God, but that habit is hard to break and easy to put off until it is too late – as happened with the rich man in the parable. I don’t know if it is our competitiveness or perhaps fear that keeps us focused on what our gifts can do for us and not on what we can do with our gifts. It is like being lulled to sleep instead of truly living. If we don’t push back against that fear, that pride in accomplishment, we are in danger of squandering the gifts Goes does give us, the talents, the means, good health, etc.