daily java

Daily Java:

Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” (Luke 12:13-21)

We scrabble all our lives to get something, but forget the most important things in the world. we forget our relationship to God.

But that is easy to do. we can see our money. We can see our bank accounts, and our cars and our friends. We can see all these things.

But God is a Spirit. We do not see him as easily as we see the other stuff. So because of this, he is easy to over look. And when we do, we overlook the one thing that is lasting.

As Jesus said here, Life is not measured by how much you own. That doesn’t mean that ownership of things is bad. It just means that when you spend all your time on ownership, you end up with nothing.

This recent economic downturn shows that. With the price of gas being high, the nice cars we buy are too expensive to drive. With the low interest rates, our money in savings and retirement plans do not grow as much. In fact, just recently, many lost a fair sized chunk of their retirements with the recession. The big, beautiful house you bought is worth less than you owe.

Yet you go to the mall and there is sign after sign encouraging you to get more stuff. WalMart goes from season to season trying desperately to get you to buy more stuff. When Christmas is over, the signs come down immediately and Valentine’s Day is big. Then it is Easter, then Fourth of July and on and on.

Sooner or later we have to realize that it does not matter how much stuff we own. And it is easy to find out that the stuff we own really owns us.

The old commercial had a family standing in a crowded house. We have too much stuff! they cried. So they rented a storage unit. The next picture has them in an empty house. Let’s go get more stuff! they cry.

I have found in my life that God is enough. I do not need stuff nor do I want it. When we aim our lives toward acquisition, we will lose our lives.

When we aim it towards God, we gain it.