August 02, 2010 Monday Message:

When we die, whoever has the most “stuff” WINS!
Right? Not according to Jesus…

In Luke 12:16:21, Jesus teaches the parable of the rich fool. As the story goes, a man has been so successful that his barns overflow with grain. He foolishly decides to tear down the barns and build bigger ones. In this story, our man is concerned with providing for his earthly “stuff,” his circumstance, but has made no provision for his eternal soul, his substance.

As I counsel people, I find many are often focused on, and somewhat obsessed with, their “stuff.” In the parable it was MY barns, MY crops, and MY goods. The man wanted to, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” The man hoped that when he amassed enough “stuff,” maybe he could take it easy, even retire. And who among us hasn’t hoped that we can set aside enough for our retirement?

Nowadays our “stuff” can be MY house, MY car, and MY 401k. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that “stuff” isn’t necessarily bad. But a driving obsession, an all-encompassing focus on stuff is what the Bible says is bad. In other words, wealth isn’t evil; but “the LOVE of wealth is a root of all kinds of evil.” 1 Timothy 6:10

The depressed world economy has left most of us scratching our heads, wondering what happened to all our “stuff.” We were hoping to build bigger barns this year, but suddenly we found we had one-third less “stuff.” And that’s a part of the lesson Jesus was trying to drive home: Earthly stuff, circumstance, is temporary – it just won’t last.

I believe Jesus would have us do two things. Instead of building more earthly barns, we should build our storehouse-of-substance in heaven, claiming the promise of forgiveness and salvation because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. So start or continue your personal relationship with Jesus, the author of your salvation. And then, if you’re one of those fortunate enough to still have an abundance of “stuff,” share some of it with those who got clobbered in today’s economy. I believe that’s what Jesus would do.

Norton Lawellin