Seek God, not more Stuff

Luke 12:1-34

As always God’s timing is spot on.  My wife and I were recently talking about our financial situation.  We like many are feeling the pinch of our current day economy.  Taxes go up, and health care costs go up, and the end result is the pay check goes down.  Don’t even get me started on the cost of college which is just three years down the road for our oldest.  So after fretting about such things God gives me the parable of the rich fool, and the passage about not being anxious. 

I have often thought the parable of the rich fool could be renamed “The Parable of the American Way.”  We tend to have a hard time living within our means.  Rather than scale back and adopt a more minimalist lifestyle we just build bigger barns and acquire more stuff.  We sign on to mortgages that are too big, we lease cars that we could never afford to buy, and in general we spend more than we make.  We also should not make the mistake of reading this parable and think all that “building bigger barns to hold our stuff” talk is just for the “rich” people.  For starters, with very few exceptions we are all rich in this country as compared to the rest of the world.  And you don’t have to be rich by our standards anyway to acquire too much stuff.  There are plenty of yard sale enthusiasts who need to hear this message just as much as the person shopping at Copley Plaza (or whatever the swanky shopping center is in your area). 

Scaling back and living within your means is a very biblical concept.  So why aren’t more Christians doing it?  We all tend to get caught up in our consumer driven society.  One thing’s for sure; the less we do get caught up in it, the less anxious we will be.  Always remember verse 34 from our reading.  Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be.  Store up your treasures on the things of God and not the things of this world, and be anxious no more.

Prayer

Lord I thank you for how You care for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, and that you care even more for me. Help me not to be anxious or in want for anything.  Grant me true contentment and peace that can only come from You.  Amen.