Luke 12:13-21 (NRSV)
Read Luke 12:13-21 on biblegateway.com
Verse 13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." Verse 14But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" Verse 15And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Verse 16Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. Verse 17And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Verse 18Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. Verse 19And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' Verse 20But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' Verse 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Devotion
“What should I do, for I have no more place to store my crops?.... I will do this; I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, ... stuff and more stuff.”
We have become masters of dealing with our stuff. As it accumulates, we buy things to keep our stuff in, we watch TV shows or hire professionals to help us organize our stuff. For many for us, the reality is that we have become slaves to all the stuff we have accumulated to enhance our lives.
The rich man in Jesus’ parable believed that his bigger barn and all the stuff it could contain would satisfy his soul. We recognize the falseness of this belief even as we wrestle with the same temptation. Jesus, once again, calls us to the soul satisfying freedom we find as we allow God to be our God, and not our stuff.
Prayer
Holy and Gracious God - creator, redeemer, sanctifier - you are our one true God, you are the only one who can satisfy our souls. For this we will praise you for all of our days. Amen.