Remember the bumper sticker several years back that said, “He who dies with the most toys wins”? Not long after that, a Christian-based company came out with one that said, “He who dies with the most toys, still dies.”
They’re funny, and the banter between bumper stickers and t-shirts can be downright comical. The sad thing, in the midst of the humor, is how many people actually take to heart and live out the goal of having the most stuff or the newest stuff.
We see it every day, the pressures of having to have more stuff that we can own, possess and control. Many of us understand this even within our Christian family, because we struggle with it as well. We see what someone else has and begin to imagine what it would be like to have it, and before we know it, we’re consumed with it. We can relate all too well with the rich man in Luke 12:16-20.
Here’s an important point for us today: It’s all God’s anyway. All of it. It’s all his, every penny in your bank account and all the stuff you think you own, which actually was paid for with God’s money. We are called to be managers of it all for God. He wants us to use the things he has blessed us with to draw people to himself. What in the world does God need with jet skis and four wheelers?
How’s this for a bit of a kicker, by God’s perfect design, the only thing you and I are able to have or call our very own is Jesus. Now he certainly is not a possession or thing we can manipulate, but we are allowed to embrace him and say: “He is my Jesus. And I am his.” Doesn’t that really put all the other material things in our lives into perspective?
What do you want? What do you need? You see, want and need are not synonymous, not even close.
My two sons, when they were younger, would see a toy and say, “Daddy, I need that.” In time, we had the discussion about want and need. You and I used to do the same thing when we were younger and our parents had the discussion with us. Perhaps our heavenly Father needs to have the same discussion with us as adults.
So the rich man in the parable found in Luke 12:16-21 says, “I’ve got so much stuff I don’t have enough room to put it all away, so I’ll tear down what I have and build bigger barns.”
Well, okay, as long as you’ve got the time and money, I guess it’s okay. Wait, no it’s not. Think about how much time and money he’s already spent on it, and now he wants to go even further. Do you see the trap? It’s never going to be enough for him. After he fills these barns up, don’t you just imagine he’s going to say, “I’ve got so much stuff I need more room.”
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Except God steps in and requires his life of him that very night. God very much saved him from himself. Do you and I see the futility of this in our own lives? What are the things we are spending way too much time and energy on that could be better used elsewhere?
There’s a key point in verse 19 we don’t need to overlook. It’s when the rich man says, “I’ll say to myself, … .” Anything after this is probably not a good thing. Any conversation you are having with yourself and not including others in on, especially God, is not a good conversation.
How many times do we get ourselves into trouble when we have a conversation with the most important person in our lives (ourselves) and then get convinced of something we just have to do? God wants to be in the conversation, his presence and voice should not be negotiable. And our obedience to what he says should be non-negotiable.
Look what happens to the rich man, he loses it all. All that time, energy and resources spent for nothing. God certainly isn’t impressed with it; remember, it’s all his to begin with.
God is so wonderful; he has worked out the plan of salvation and its reward in our lives so that we always are in win-win situations. Paul got it and says as much in Philippians 1:21. Either way or whatever God chooses to do with Paul, they both win. It’s one of the many perks of being God, you win. And as long as you are with God, he makes sure that you win as well.
Of course the challenge for us now is how do we see our current struggle or situation as being a win situation? But that’s for you to walk through with God, trusting and knowing that he is dedicated to your success because it makes him look good to others. Having hope and trust in God as you walk through your circumstance will allow you to see the win on the other side of it. If you don’t, you will feel like you have lost and been abandoned by God. So, how are you feeling? Like a winner?
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