Luke 12:13-21 (NIV)

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.”

Reflection:

The first thought the rich man had when he discovered that his wealth had drastically increased, was about how he could keep and preserve it. For him, security was all about trusting in the material things of this life. He thought he would have many years ahead of him to enjoy his wealth in ease and comfort, but it turned out that his life was ending that night. He could have been rich in his love for God, but he left God out and dreamed only to keep his riches for himself. Where the man could have used his wealth to bless others, he built new barns to store his grain. In the end it was all for nothing. All of his plotting and planning only gave him the false sense of security that things of this life can bring. May we not be so focused on the riches of this world so that we block God out of our lives, and the calling He has over our lives.

Response:

Let’s pray that we would not be consumed by our worldly wealth and ambitions. Instead, let’s ask for God to open our eyes to see that He is the only One that we can trust in for the security and comfort our hearts are so hungry for.