Why our choice to focus on God over stuff will never fail us

By Dean Collins

I noticed it first in the adults I admired and who mentored me. They started to look and act older. Now the same crazy thing is happening to my friends! The things they care about are starting to seem different lately. Many of my friends have either retired or are slowing down and preparing for retirement. They all seem pretty happy about starting this new chapter of life.

Aging isn’t actually optional. It is required unless we are one of the many who find life on this side cut short by disease or accident. For those of us who remain, it is inevitable that either we or our heirs begin to think about inheritance. Some of my friends have lots of possessions, and some of my friends have less. I guess that last sentence suggests I see myself somewhere in the middle.

Apparently, there were some in the crowds that followed Jesus who were also aging and probably dealing with aging parents and had questions about their inheritance. And there were some who were younger and anticipating the inheritance they might receive.

Divide the inheritance?

Luke 12 tells us someone in a crowd listening to Jesus asked him to tell his brother to divide the inheritance with him. Jesus dismissed the idea with a warning. It is a good warning for all of us. It is a warning not just about what we might or might not get in any inheritance but rather speaks to us about what we should focus on now and what we should avoid.

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness,” Jesus said, “for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

This warning Jesus gave is about more than just seeing your neighbor’s new car and wishing it was yours. Covetousness is an attitude or desire for money and other possessions as a primary motivation or goal in life. With the constant bombardment of advertising and media that insists we just can’t live without the new car, the second home, the trip to Italy, the best whatever, we can slip into a life focused on accumulation instead of generosity.

Too much stuff?

Jesus made his point clear as he continued with a parable. He told the crowd about one guy who was doing well financially. The man was already wealthy and had plenty, but his appetite couldn’t be satisfied. He wanted more and more. In fact, he had so much stuff he didn’t have room for all of his possessions. Should I mention here that many of us have attics, garages, and rental units to hold stuff we never use?

The solution the rich man came up with was to build bigger barns to hold all his stuff. He lived a life of accumulation with the goal of one day just kicking back and enjoying it all until his last breath. And then Jesus delivered the punchline: “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Abundant life?

Jesus was getting to the root of the problem the first guy had about who would get an inheritance. The questioner was focused on stuff and not on life. Jesus offers something far more valuable than possessions. His offer is about abundant life for both now and forever.

Without daily surrender to Jesus and to his kingdom life, it is easy to drift toward the shiny things around us. And before we realize it, our time is spent on making sure we get the new thing that will surely make life better. Some in the crowd on the day of this story might have remembered another lesson from Jesus. It is one we should probably read and hold on to as we approach each day.

Jesus said to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to us. The reference was to receiving the things we need for life now. Our choice to focus on God over stuff won’t fail us. God is a good, good Father, and he promises to meet all our needs during our short stay on earth. And he also promises that the longer life we will one day live with him—and everyone he loves and those we love, too—will be better than anything we can imagine.

I’ll stop now. I think I need to clean out some closets and storerooms and focus more on what I can give away rather than the tendency to hold on to more and more.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Luke‬ ‭12:13-21‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Mediocre Studio at www.pexels.com

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