Glory in the Morning

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.’ Luke 12: 16-17 NIV

As a child, I loved stories, especially fables, because they had a point or a warning of what NOT to do. THe imaginative stories made a point about how an animals or person’s character, whether greedy or impatient or patient or wise affects a situation. They teach a lesson.

To learn life lessons, the best and true resource is God’s Word. It is our hope and is vital for our learning journey. Jesus makes it easy to learn by telling us parables. He is our authority, so reading a story of His means we am getting the “scoop” straight from the One who knows our hearts! His stories parallel real life and get us to think about our choices line up, or don’t, with what God expects.

In Luke 12, Jesus tells a story about a man with a great harvest who did the wrong thing. The Parable of the Rich Fool goes like this… A rich man had an abundant harvest. The problem? He did not have enough storage for all of it. He decided that he was going to tear down his small barns to build bigger ones, to store all of his abundance. That way, he could rest in comfort knowing he had all he needed for years to come. He wanted an easy life!

That hit me like a ton of bricks! We ALL want easy lives, don’t we? We definitely store up things to that end. After hearing this parable, I am thinking our goal needs to be one of wanting easier lives for OTHERS. What do we have stored up that others can use? How tight do we hold onto things that make our lives easier and maybe a bit lazy? I am preaching to myself here, so no judgement.

A personal note…the backstory to why these verses spoke to me so strongly…

A few months ago, I started having a strong desire to get rid of all my extra stuff in the basement. I started to realize someone could be using those old chairs or curtains and blankets, craft supplies and dishes and clothes. What if I have them all away and trusted God to supply my future needs? Should I be saving so much? NO!

Meanwhile, a friend of mine started doing a “death cleaning.” She is in good health but is doing a certain process of cleaning. This is an idea based on ridding ourselves of things others will not want when we are gone. (You can look up Swedish Death Cleaning.)

If you think about it…Our abundance of things can help others today, instead of being a burden for others to go through after we are gone. Little did my friend know how freeing it would be! When she posted on facebook about it, I had to tell her I was cleaning out my house too and donated several car loads to Salvation Army. It IS freeing! What a bonus!

Both my friend Pam and I feel this is a God thing. We feel God is trying to do a good work in us and it requires us to follow His leading. It is rather exciting to follow God and not be sure of where He is leading! This is NO credit to us at all, as He is the only One worthy of praise.

From the only authority, God’s Word…We just are not meant to store up treasures on earth, says God. Here is what God said to the rich man in the parable…

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 12:20-21 NIV

Jesus makes the point with this parable…We are to be rich toward God, rich in what HE desires. That is a matter for prayer, for sure! As we navigate this sometimes confusing life course, I hope we appreciate the wisdom of God and Jesus here. Isn’t it awesome to have His recorded words to read whenever we want to? Isn’t it great to be told the absolute truth that matters? Jesus tells us what God expects of us. Does anything matter more?

Dear God,

There just aren’t enough words or the right words to tell You how much I appreciate having Your Word as my guide. You know how imperfect I am and selfish and greedy I can be. Though I will never understand how You could go to such lengths to save us, I will always love You for it, as best I can. Thank You for showing me how to please You, through Jesus’ parables. I love You so much! Amen.

I love you all with the love of the Father! Gotta go clean the basement, not even joking!:)

Christina