Rich Toward God – Luke 12:13-21

InspiredWalk.com suggests that the way we can be rich toward God is (1) to give to our church, God-centered ministries, and the poor, (2) invest our energy and time doing the work and will of God, (3) use our earthly riches to show how much we value God, and (4) realize that our security is in God alone.

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”  (Luke 12:13-21 ESV)

If we are to succeed at maintaining as much control over our lives as possible we will need wealth.  At least, that is our belief.  We long to have our needs met apart from God and what we covet for ourselves we seek to find a way to grasp, and money seems a great tool for grasping what we want.  We long for such an abundance that we no longer need to worry about meeting our needs.

But Jesus exposes the folly of this.  There is only One who is really in control of life, and coveting possessions leads to foolishness of heart and controls us in ways unpleasant.  And when our lives come to an end all these possessions will matter for nothing.  Only investment in our relationship with God will bring any profit then.