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| Countdown to Spring, originally uploaded by aussiegall. |
- The daffodils are out!
- Amber's car is officially paid off.
- Warren and Mary got back safe from their trip to Cancun.
- Mary was able to come to church!
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for the suffering of Christians (an everyone else) in the Middle East turmoil.
- Pray without ceasing for Japan and the nuclear crisis. It's just another sign that our world is under pressure, and God is the only thing holding it all together. Philippians 4:6.
- Elaine's friend, Tim Hopp, has a brother named Alex who may or may not have been in Japan when the earthquake struck.
- Remember Dixie and her family; apparently the cancer has spread further.
- Jim and Bridgette.
- Emily has had a few biopsies and it is possible that she is struggling with cancer, or at least some kind of infection.
- Intercede on behalf of all our leaders.
- Michele is waiting for a kidney transplant; pray joy and peace to her.
- Pray for Markus.
- Ask safe travel for the Allens and good results for their endeavors.
- Simon and Christy's marriage.
- Restoration of Mary's health.
- Childresses wedding plans, as well as a job opening for Vernon.
Sunrise (Wisconsin Style) originally uploaded by ~Darin~
Imagine this: you are in the midst of a crowd of thousands, all of you trampling each other just to hear what Jesus, the amazing teacher from Galilee, is going to say next. You're listening, breathless, trying to memorize every word to tell your family when you get back home. Jesus stops talking for a moment to take a sip of water--and you hear a man's piercing voice from the edge of the crowd,
"Teacher! Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!"
What? You blink a couple times and look at the others' reactions to make sure you heard correctly. Everyone else seems to be thinking the same thing, This guy came all the way to hear Jesus and, at the first lull, demands that the great teacher make his brother (must be that red-faced man standing beside him) split their inheritance?! You all quieten in expectation of Jesus's next words. He gets a look on his face that you've never seen before, then says, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Everyone chuckles in appreciation.
So here we have a man who doesn't think he's getting what he deserves; he has heard Jesus's great words of love and righteousness, and all he can think about is his wallet. Jesus took that opportunity as a "teaching moment" and launched into an appropriate parable.
Luke 12:13-21
1. Situation: The rich man (we'll call him Reginald) has it good. He is absolutely bursting with abundance (not even of his own skill or power, it was "the ground" that produced a bumper crop). What was one of his problems? vs. 17, He was not prepared for abundance.
God meets the needs of the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:45), but He wants to bless His children abundantly (Hebrews 11:6).
Here's a question: if this farmer were properly prepared, does that mean that he would have already built bigger barns, or done something altogether different?
2. Choice: Abundance forces us to make decisions. Reginald had two paths he could follow--the path of greed or the path of giving. Well, our friend was so focused on what he "needed" that he chose to store everything to satisfy whatever wants and cares he might have in the future, saying, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." In other words, he chose ease over productivity. Reggie's attitude was that this bumper crop was his chance to take it easy and have some breathing room for once. Personal application: How many times have you wished for a windfall, "just in case" or for a little cushion in hard times? He was completely needs-oriented.
To him abundance=rest, but to God abundance=responsibility.
After all, if a garden if full of lush green foliage but doesn't produce a thing to eat, how is your family going to fare in the coming winter? Such a garden is worse than useless. It uses up the nutrients in the soil as well as the gardener's time and effort, all without giving anything back. God expects a return on His investment. We are meant to do more than provide for our own needs.
So Reginald shouldn't have built bigger barns at all, perhaps he should have sold his abundance and bought bigger fields that would have yielded an even larger crop! Personal Application: Life=productivity, not abundance.
Death puts all of this in perspective. What does Reginald have to show for all his stockpiling? Greed is a lose-lose deal--what we wanted for ourselves will go to someone who didn't work for it and may not even deserve it. In a sense, death is like a pop-quiz: we never know when we will be made accountable.
3. Poor toward God: If we are greedy, then there will be nothing to show for it in the end (vs. 21). We must break out of our need-thinking. The purpose of making money is to produce life. We don't need money to get another car, a bigger house, a longer vacation, more clothes, or a better education (though we may spend it on all of those things). We need money to produce life. No matter how much we make, all of our barns should probably be about the same size (not socialism: that is forcing all barns to be the same). Are we prepared to think in terms of productivity instead of leisure and stop pouring our funds into Individual Resting Accounts? (No offense to IRAs, but I'm afraid that there isn't a verse in the Bible that talks about a well-earned, cushy retirement starting at age 62.)
Keep the parable of the talents in mind: if we're productive we'll be given more, if we aren't then even what we've been given will be taken away.
So, will our lives be empty wastelands if we only keep enough money to suit our modest needs? Absolutely not! Instead of relying on bigger barns for newness, interest, and joy, we can get all of those things from the beauty of giving. Personal application: Work on determining what you need (it's different for everybody).
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