Luke 12:15. And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.
As the old folks would say, that’s the gospel truth! And we shouldn’t need J.C to remind us of that. Here, some fellow wanted Him to tell his brother to divide their inheritance equally, but J.C with his usual aplomb and dry wit, asked the man who made Him a judge or divider over them. Then He spoke Today’s Bit, and followed it up with the parable about the man who had so much material wealth, but no where to store it. So, in his great wisdom, he decided to tear down what he had and build bigger and better structures that would be able to hold all his material possessions. Hn! The Most High however, had other ideas, and required the soul of the man that night. So what good was all those possessions to him? None, since he could not take any of it with him. And we are foolishly following in that man’s footsteps. J.C. must be sadly shaking His head in Heaven, seriously concerned about us, because our world is so rife with materialism. It’s all about what and how much material possessions you possess. And not only that, but also whose is better. It’s like a crazy free for all out there; everybody’s encouraging you to buy, buy, buy. Get this new this, or this new that, then tomorrow it’s outdated, made obsolete by another new fangled toy. Consider, the recent surge in computer technology, cell phones, i-pods, hand held wireless devices, plasma, wide screen and whatever other kind of TV’s, home theatre systems, cars, houses and the upcoming battle between the two kinds of DVD’s. Like we never learned anything from the Beta and VCR confusion. And it all costs more money, but has less substance than ever. Everything is hyped so much now, that you wonder what they’ll do for an encore. And although we know we can’t take any of it with us, we still persist in the break-neck, rat race pursuit of amassing worldly possessions. And like the man asking J.C about talking to his brother, we leave a lot of stuff behind for our families and lawyers and hanger’s on to fight over, thus creating further turmoil in our already apathetic world. Almost every death of a wealthy person provokes some kind of lawsuit. Check James Brown and Anna Nicole Smith. Friends, we should try to improve our economic situation and live comfortably, but not at the expense of other stuff. Accumulation of things should not be so far above everything else on our agenda, that we don’t have time for those other pursuits. Remember in the parable above, J.C considered the man a fool for wanting to build bigger and better, and ended it by saying, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." (Luke 12:21) In light of that Friends, let’s try not to be too foolish nuh. Instead , let’s focus on the things of God. Much LOVE…as little foolishness as possible…and plenty, plenty richness towards The Most High!
SCRIP-BITS 