DAY 30: Spending priorities
Reading: Luke 12:16-21
‘So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not
rich toward God.’ v21
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.”
What a contrast between the farmer and the birds of the air. In itself
the famer’s desire to have big barns and to store his crop was not
wrong. He was taking thought for and providing for the future. But
it was his desire to sit back and be self-congratulatory about things,
using his wealth only for himself that caused him to err. As we have
seen throughout the past few weeks, we are responsible for how we
exercise our stewardship over the money and goods God has entrusted
to us. He failed to be ‘rich towards God’.
We have a bigger vision and longer term goals than creating an earthly
fund to carry us through to the grave. As creatures of God’s eternal
kingdom we look to use the values of the Kingdom of God as a guide
to how we spend our money; setting priorities for all that we do.
So people will be able to see what our real values are by finding
what we have set our heart on, for where our heart is, so too is our
treasure.
For further Reading: Philippians 3:12-21 - striving towards things of God.
To Ponder: If someone asked you what was your heart’s desire, would they
see Jesus?
To Pray: Help me Lord, to always set Godly priorities for all my spending
plans. Amen.
‘So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not
rich toward God.’ v21
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.”
What a contrast between the farmer and the birds of the air. In itself
the famer’s desire to have big barns and to store his crop was not
wrong. He was taking thought for and providing for the future. But
it was his desire to sit back and be self-congratulatory about things,
using his wealth only for himself that caused him to err. As we have
seen throughout the past few weeks, we are responsible for how we
exercise our stewardship over the money and goods God has entrusted
to us. He failed to be ‘rich towards God’.
We have a bigger vision and longer term goals than creating an earthly
fund to carry us through to the grave. As creatures of God’s eternal
kingdom we look to use the values of the Kingdom of God as a guide
to how we spend our money; setting priorities for all that we do.
So people will be able to see what our real values are by finding
what we have set our heart on, for where our heart is, so too is our
treasure.
For further Reading: Philippians 3:12-21 - striving towards things of God.
To Ponder: If someone asked you what was your heart’s desire, would they
see Jesus?
To Pray: Help me Lord, to always set Godly priorities for all my spending
plans. Amen.
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