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Luke 12:15-21 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.”

Our strawberry patch is having a bumper year, overflowing the raised bed, dangling luscious fruit enticingly, waiting to be picked and eaten.

"How are we going to eat all of them?" ... was the question! "We're not, we're going to share them", was the reply!

If you have been given a lot, it's not for your own benefit - share it!

Whether it's money, food, talent, knowledge, insight, or spare time, realise God, in His kindness, has blessed you to be a blessing.

The man in the story paints an ugly picture of selfishness. 

Certainly he must have been surrounded with people in need if he had just opened his eyes?

All that consumed him was keeping everything for himself. When an overflow fell into his lap, all he could think of was how he could enjoy himself and take it easy.

In the story God calls him a fool!

In this materialistic world he would be considered as someone to envy and imitate, but God looks at things very differently.

Even the fox who we feed, usually with sausages, shares his food first with his cubs. He has at least two cubs to provide for.

His first action is not to keep it for himself, but to give the food to his cubs. He will gather up the pieces and gladly share it with them before eating for himself.

Do I have a sharing, caring heart? It's something to muse on, because greed can easily slip in the doorway of our hearts. The "bigger barn" syndrome can hide itself in many different disguises.

Jesus said not even a cup of cold water shared will go unrewarded [Matthew 10:42].

Make the most of every opportunity to share before it's time to leave this life.

If you stay close to Jesus He will give you plenty to share. Prayer Father, you have blessed us so much in our lives, help us not to build bigger barns for ourselves, but give us eyes to see and hearts to share with those in need.