Man Proposes; God Disposes

 

 

Lk 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 further we pursue the accumulation of material goods, the closer we come to disaster for we have no control over our future. We are shaken up occasionally by an unexpected illness or unexpected death of a friend or acquaintance, but eventually brush these off and continue our merry way storing up material things in our barns, oblivious to the possibility of losing all in an instant. Jesus reminds us of the lack of control we have even over the events that await us today. May we set the course of the day by placing it in God's hands and our efforts and disposition in accordance with his plan, not ours.

 

Bro. Rene

 

Dear Jesus, I place this day in your hands; help me to do my best to accomplish your will, not mine. Amen,