Surplus

The Parable of the Rich Fool

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 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.”

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“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. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

“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?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:13-21

Yesterday my shiny new red car arrived - well it's not exactly brand new, but new to me!

As I looked at it again this morning admiring its paintwork and alloy wheels, glistening in the sunshine, I realised how easy it is to become fixated with possessions.

With you, it may not be cars, it may be clothes or jewellery, tools, furniture or investments.

The guy that shouted out to Jesus 'tell my brother to share his inheritance with me" revealed what was in his heart.

If you had the privilege of being near Jesus (which we do by the way) what would be your request?

Probably, the best guide to what motivates us is the things we pray about and ask the Lord for....

Examine the "rich fool" - when he had an abundance and overflow, all his thoughts were of storing it up for himself. He didn't pray, he didn't ask for advice - he said to himself I'll store up more myself!

I call it the "bigger barns" syndrome and it can infect any of us at any time.

If you look carefully at the passage Jesus isn't advocating poverty or saying riches are evil, but stressing that we must be richer toward God - putting our focus on Him and giving to the needy.

If riches increase, don't set your heart on them!

Psalm 62:10

What a blessing that rich guy could've been to those around him, sharing his surplus with those in need.

God is watching what we do - probably the hardest and most subtle trial is when life gets too easy and we have surplus money or time on our hands. What will I do with it?

How rich am I toward God?