Losing the Shine
Luke 12:16-20 But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"
What’s the most precious thing that you own? I’m not talking about a relationship, or people here. Or the joy or the peace you might have. Just put all that to one side for a moment.
What’s the most precious physical possession that you own? I’m sure it springs to mind fairly quickly.
Me, I’ve always liked gadgets. Since I was a little boy.
And so as a former IT consultant, you’ll understand when I say, I enjoy using technology. Take my laptop. I keep it clean, well organised. That’s just me.
So I was speaking at an event recently and a gust of wind blew over the projector screen and it landed right on my computer – leaving a big ding in the lid. I was so disappointed.
And that’s what happens. It doesn’t matter how much money we invest in “stuff” – it gets dinged, it gets scratched and eventually, things wear out. Those things that we sacrificed so much for, those things that, even without knowing it, we value so highly … are so incredibly temporary. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Why do we invest so much in things that really don’t matter, while ignoring the things that really do? Why is that?
Jesus told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-20)
I know it’s something we don’t like to think about, but the things that we invest so much in today will one day either belong to someone else, or find their way into the trash.
What is it in your life that has you focusing on the wrong thing, on tomorrow’s garbage, when all along, there’s a God waiting for you, longing for you, yearning for you? A God who loves you so much, that He sent His own Son to suffer and die for you.
You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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