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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, January 8, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage: SubjectaThe:The Parable of the Rich Fool Bible Verse:Luke 12:13-21 (ESV) "Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear 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, ‘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.” " Message:
There is a joke on Wall Street that goes, “What do you call a man who has 900 million dollars?” The Answer: “A frustrated billionaire.”
The joke is funny because it is so often true; it is a foible of human nature. We focus upon getting something — often something that we actually need or is perfectly healthy to seek — but we become obsessed by it. We lose sight of the goal and when we reach it, we continue to act as if it is something we need. Very often, the obsession involves an element of sinful pride, because we see ownership of a large excess, or an amount greater than another person, as something that glorifies us among men.
Money is only one example; you could think of a hundred others. For example, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be in good physical shape: having a healthy weight, having strong healthy muscles, and having good cardiovascular fitness. But it is easy for an outsider to see prideful excess in people who become obsessed with exercise or musculature, especially when it causes them to ignore other areas of activity or becomes harmful to their own body. Many body builders and athletes have destroyed their health by using anabolic steroids
Jesus and the rich man, Matthew 19
Jesus and the rich young man
There are people who tan themselves to the point that they get skin cancer. (Some exposure to sun is actually vital for health, because our bodies need sunshine to produce Vitamin D!) There are people who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on their clothes, just to glorify themselves over others. There are people who are so desperate to glorify themselves that they spend 100 hours per week playing video games in order to get more points than someone else, or to make sure that their online character has some item that makes it slightly more powerful than someone else’s character.
At one point, Christ told his disciples to take to the road, carrying nothing more than the clothes on their back: “Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.” (Matthew 10:9-10)
Few of us will take self-abnegation to such an extreme, unless we are called to monasticism. We work to make enough money to buy food and clothes, to have a place to live, etc. There is no wrong in this. Paul tells us repeatedly to earn our living. (E.g. 1 Thess. 4:10-12; 2 Thess. 3:10-12.) But it is important to stop and think, “How much do I really need in terms of earthly things?” and to compare that to “How rich am I toward God?”
Meditation : Prayer : Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!...Amen. |
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