as your judge or your attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and
avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that
which gives you life.”
And Jesus continued, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest.
He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know
what I shall do: I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain,
which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself: My friend, you have a lot of good things put
by for many years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool!
This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell me, who shall get all you have put
aside?’ This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in
the eyes of God.”
Reflect
Dealing with clutter has become big business. Companies offer everything from
decluttering services to storage and organizing solutions. Clutter is actually a new
problem. For most of history, the problem was having too little, not too much.
Many of our brothers and sisters around the world today still do not have the food,
shelter, and other basics they need to live a dignified life.
In his parable about the rich man, Jesus calls us to re-evaluate our relationship with
our possessions. Do we own them or do they own us? We can rely more on our
possessions than on the people in our lives or even on God! In fact, we can use our
possessions to wall ourselves off from other people. If we have everything we need
and more, we can fool ourselves into believing that we don’t need God or others.
But our possessions do not have eternal value. While they are useful while we are
here on earth, we should set our hearts on the things of heaven.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2023