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.”
Get Rich Fast!
Get rich, fast! All
you have to do is be successful in the name of coveting and winning over your neighbor’s
possessions. It’s quick and easy! But first let’s talk about the 9th
and 10th Commandments about coveting, and just how to be successful
at it.
So how do we do this
covet stuff? Well, it’s simple. Trick those in your world and those you want to
use in your world into giving up what they have to give to you. You can steal
the stuff, or lie about getting the stuff or just fake em out until you get
their stuff for yourself.
Everyone likes stuff,
like money, power, sex, health, possessions, and a good life. Everyone like
this stuff, and over time collects this stuff to the best of their ability.
Why? So that they can take life easy. People all want the easy stuff. Get em to
give you stuff, like some people who trick others into thinking that giving up
money helps someone else. Well, usually that someone else is the one collecting
the stuff to begin with. All it takes is a laser focus on the other person’s
stuff and how to trick or convince them to give their stuff to you. It’s that
easy!
But, guess what
Jesus teaches here, in this passage of Scripture. It’s about the 9th
and 10th commandments for sure, but more. So, what are the 9th
and 10th commandments? I find it peculiar that today in the United
States, anyway, we fuss over having the Commandments in school and other
places. Well, the 10 commandments aren’t even numbered, as over time, we people
number them differently. So, here are the 9th and 10th
commandments as I was taught…
9– You shall not
covet your neighbor’s house.
10- You shall not
covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his cattle,
or anything that is your neighbor’s.
What does this mean?
Well, to me, don’t try to get your neighbor’s stuff. Leave his stuff alone! It’s
not yours!
We are, instead, to
be focused on the WILL of GOD… NOT… other’s stuff or even our own stuff. Yea,
even our own stuff. Don’t focus on stuff!
Don’t set your heart
on this world. Set your heart on the world to come. This world is for a little
while, BUT God’s world is eternal.
It’s easy to lose
focus on God’s WILL and what God wants from us. I can easily focus on my need
of money, health, power, prestige, sex, or how far ahead my neighbor is in
gathering his stuff from my stuff.
It’s easy to focus
on today and tomorrow, that I lose sight of eternity.
It’s like God is
tapping me on the head and whispering, “Hey Billy, there’s more to life than
this place in which you presently live. Look to me a little more and you will
witness My Kingdom IN eternity. You will witness how I created, you to be with Me
in eternity. It’s not all about you, you know. It’s about me… God.” --- tink tink
tink on my thick skull… goes God.
There are already earthly
judges set in place in our world to deal with stuff. Judges deal with this
dividing of stuff. Yet, we still get trapped and wrapped up in covetous “stuff.”
You know, the petty problems of stuff, because we don’t want to deal with the
deeper issue of our own covetous.
Really, my life IS
NOT, and DOES NOT belong to me. No matter HOW rich I may become, my life IS NOT
just my own or all under my control. I have influence over my life, for sure, BUT
my life is not from me alone.
And there is caution
here. Watch OUT! That before God we are confessors… NOT… complainers. In the
confession booth of God, we ARE NOT the judge. We are being judged. Huh? That
sounds odd.
God has already
granted to us all that we need. We don’t need other’s stuff. We have enough
stuff of our own. BUT, if we waste our life focusing on our stuff, we lose
sight of what God’s WILL is for our lives to give that stuff away, to God and
to our neighbor.
My wealth, of any
earthly kind, IS NOT, a guarantee of, or for, eternal life.
Stuff, - Wealth and
Riches stuff, WILL NOT protect me from LIFE or what MIGHT happen in life.
I am only secure BY
being rich toward God. Huh? How’s that?
I am secure NOT by
stuff, BUT through victory over stuff.
How?
When God comes to me
and calls me, God gifts me in the waters of baptism, AND LETS ME be a part of HIS
JOY IN THE SPIRIT to be a part of the Gospel.
Paul words this this
way in 1 Corinthians 15:57…
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
IT IS through God, who loved us in Jesus and the Holy Spirit,
that I am IN HIM.
Listen once again to the words of Paul in Romans 8:37-39…
37 No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yes! THIS LOVE IS RICH! Rich TOWARDS God!
To “Get Rich Fast!” --- forget about stuff and
the gathering and the coveting of stuff. Toil to please God, not this world or
yourself. God is the God who made you. God made you FOR Him. So, set your mind
on Jesus Christ above, NOT on the stuff of earth… today… tomorrow… and forever.
Thanks be to God!
I invite you to be inspired by this YouTube Music
video that reminds me of this Gospel…
“Seek Ye First”
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