Never Satisfied

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

NEVER SATISFIED

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; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."  16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 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 all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life 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 yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." 

NIV

Before we get into this parable of the rich man, although the whole of this response to the brother who wanted his share of the inheritance is about the parable, we need to deal with the first response. Why did Jesus respond in that manner to the fact that who appointed him the arbiter of man’s share of an inheritance? It would seem that man is obsessed with their share of the wealth thier ancestors or their inheritance. However, the deeper problem is simply greed. So many people are consumed with their financial picture, their future, by storing up for their retirement. Of course, we need a certain amount of money to pay for the bills of life. Most of us need to pay for some kind of living quarters, which for most includes the utilities, plus some kind of transportation to get to some kind of work, and food to sustain our bodies, with a certain amount of clothing to cover them.  It seems in our society that is the basic needs of most people. However, then greed takes over, and we need bigger, better, and more of all of those things, plus more and more of other stuff, in fact, many have so much stuff they need to pay for a storage bin to hold all their stuff, or a bigger house, with more storage space for all their stuff. Of course, stuff in itself is not being greedy, but it is the fact that if we base most of our efforts on accumulating more and more of the things of this world, then we may have become more greedy than we think. We are aware of Paul’s instructions to Timothy about telling the people to provide for their relatives, and if a man does not, he is worse than an unbeliever. However, in the context that was about widows, and not about making sure all our family or relatives have enough of our inheritance, like this brother who wanted his brother to share. However, the best way to provide for our family is in the eternal sense, providing them with the knowledge and the truth about the kingdom of God. However, at the same time, it is the responsibility of the head of the household to provide for the care of the physical needs of his family. But greed has taken over for so many, that the needs are not enough, the plenty is not even enough, and thus the parable is told, which we will dissect next. Let us not, as people who put our trust in God and also in Jesus Christ, be careful not to put our trust in the abundance of our possessions, which is based on the abundance of our money. Greed is an awful thing to endure, as it is never satisfied.