GPS Guide – October 31, 2018

Wednesday

Read: Luke 12:13-21

13″Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”” 14 “Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 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 like 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 your self?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.””   (NIV)

Study: A man quarreling with his brother over an inheritance triggered Jesus’ telling of this short but haunting story. A rich farmer reaping a large crop, he said, thought about nothing but how to keep it all, adding it to his already overflowing food and wealth. Fixated on his worldly fortune, he forgot that none of it would do him any good when his earthly life ended. Jesus knew better, and urged his hearers to become “rich toward God.” How easy or hard is it for you to be generous with money, time or other “stuff” you have? What experiences or examples have helped you find the freedom of living more generously?

Pray: Lord Jesus, I want to be rich— “rich toward God,” that is. Please shape my heart and my choices in ways that will continue to lead me to that kind of life.   Amen.