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
If you had all the money you ever dreamed of, what would you do with it? Roam the aisles of your favorite big box store and add to your collection of treasures? Purchase the latest and greatest version of the iThis or the iThat? Open a savings account and watch it grow? Saving it seems like a reasonable answer, especially in these challenging economic times. That is what the rich man in the parable does. He is a saver. However, the parable says he is a fool.
I don’t know. Maybe he would have been a fool no matter what he did. Would he have come off better in the story if he had looked around and recognized that his abundant harvest could be put to immediate use to satisfy the needs of those who had not been so fortunate? Maybe then, instead of, “You fool!” God would have said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
Maybe you could go look in your big barn and see if there is something stored up there that could be put to good use today.
Prayer
Giving One, thank you for all your gifts poured out so freely. You have blessed me so that I may be a blessing to others. Now bless me with an abundance of generosity, for my sake and for the sake of your whole world. Amen.