Monday, October 19, 2020

True Treasure

 Luke 12:13-21

The Parable of the Rich Fool

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.”

The fight with greed and the insatiable desire for more material goods weaves its way through our history and never seems to end. We never seem to be satisfied.  Jesus is clear on this:  "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist in possessions." Easier said than done, as the parable illustrates. Would that we worked with the same energy to become rich in what matters to God as we do for earthly treasures. Giving our lives for others in small ways or in big, as did the North American Martyrs, whose Memorial is today, in acts of loving service, and in generous sharing of ourselves, we can build up true treasure.  May God and those who have done this before us help us to put this way of "treasure building" into action today!

Bro. Rene

 

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