Thursday 16 Aug 2012

Thursday Reading: Luke 12:16-21

Key Verse: Luke 12:20
20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Devotion:
I count myself lucky because I have been in the position of having no money and wondering where the next meal was going to come from as well as being in the position of being able to share the wealth that I have with others. So when people try to use verses like this to put down the wealthy I take issue with that. It is not for us to judge others as quite clearly pointed out through these verses. God is the one who allows us to gain the riches that we are able to and He wants us to be wise with all that He gives us.

Then there may be some doubters who would say that God should not allow people to gain such riches if He already knows that they are going to waste them or to hoard them; but how can He give everyone a second chance unless He is going to give that chance to the poor as well as the rich? As I keep trying to remind people, Jesus came into this world to seek and to save, not to hunt down and shoot! (Luke 19:10)

Our lot in this world is not to lift ourselves as high as we can, nor to lift up any other person as much as we can; our lot is to lift up our heavenly Father and His only Son. If we are going to spend all our time thinking of ways in which we can build up our own wealth and our own power then we should not be surprised if we get to a time in our lives when we either lose it all or find that we have a bank full and can’t take it with us when we die. God continues to give us chances to clear our heads and re-focus on Him. But when the time comes and enough is enough, we are the ones that should have made sure that we were ready – it is not up to God to keep making sure that we are ready. Just as our parents take a step back and allow us to take on our lives, God expects us to step up to the block and take on our lot as given to us by Him.

Let us, therefore, not forget that we live within this entity called time. Time will continue marching on and will not stop and wait for us to make up a decision that will suit everything and everybody. We have to make our decisions and live by them and we have to do that before we have to face our Judge.

Points to Ponder:
What do you seek out of life?

Are you running with God?