Greetings in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:33-34)
Jesus loved people and poured out His love to everyone coming to Him. Jesus taught the truth and love of God. Jesus emphasized the importance of receiving the truth and being filled with light of God in heart:
“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is unhealthy, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.” (Luke 11:33-36)
The world is full of darkness. We often feel darkness is unbeatably strong, but it is not true. In fact, it kneels down before even a tiny little candle light of our faith. Deep darkness immediately recedes and the ambient is replaced by the light radiating from a tiny little candle of our faith. This is the power in us, children of God. Thus, the darkness cannot prevail over us, and it will be utterly defeated by the light in us. The days of the darkness are counted, and the end is sure in Christ Jesus.
While Jesus continued teaching the crowd with the truth and love, one man from the crowd raised his voice to Jesus, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”
The person heard the message of the light, but his heart was muddled with concerns of the world. He was all day long with Jesus and heard the message of the truth and the Kingdom of God, but none of them penetrated into his heart because His heart was completely filled with earthly matters. His heart had no room to receive the message of the Kingdom of God. All of the messages from the mouth of Jesus were like the seeds fell on road, which were eaten by birds. It was really sad of him who could not receive and understand the truth. Jesus was pity on him.
Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” (Luke 12:14-15)
Jesus kindly answered while pointing at the root of the issue residing in him. His eyes were fixated on things on earth, and for him, Jesus was viewed as a judge over the worldly things, not the Savior of the world, who was the very source of our hope, truth, love and eternal lives. He was still in darkness and he could not see the truth and receive the most precious message of salvation of him.
Jesus then looked around the crowd. Jesus saw many of them were still confused. The force of darkness was so strong, and hearts of many in the crowd were still of the world instead of the Kingdom of God.
Then He told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ (Luke 13: 16-19)
Jesus mentioned one rich man of the world. He had a fertile farm. One year, it produced much more find crops than ordinary years. He sold as much as he could, and he earned much more money than ordinary years. It made him happy. Additionally, a huge quantity of fine crops was still with him. It was so obvious that he could not store the remnants in the existing barns. He pondered a while. Then he got an idea — to tear down the current barns which were too small to fit all of the left-over fine crops after that year’s sale, and to build a much bigger barn. This plan made him extremely happy. He had lots of money in his pocket, and the huge barn newly constructed that would be filled with fine crops and all goodies that he recently purchased. He knew that he had more than enough for many years to come. What he had to do was to take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry. All things were perfectly aligned with him, and he felt he was on top of everything. He had plenty, and his plan was perfect. His future was guaranteed. For his own eyes, he was a true winner.
How many of us are like the rich man in the above story — putting all our energy, time and efforts to store up things on earth according to our own plan of this world? Getting up early, toiling all day long, and staying up till late night with one reason – to be like the rich man. We accumulate earthly riches, build a bigger barn, and work day and night to fill the bigger barn for our comfortable future.
However, Jesus continued,
“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.”’ (Luke 12:20,21)
Jesus pointed out what’s the true nature of the earthly wealth and our plan for future. Yes, working hard and saving for future is really important, and all of us should do. However, if the sole purpose of laying up treasures is only for ourselves, this is the stupidest thing that we can do. Why? God is the master of the universe and governs all creations in it including our lives. God can call us anytime, and any moment. Nobody can resist His call, and nobody has ever succeeded of refusing His call. As soon as He calls, we immediately drop all things belonging to this world, and we stand before God. Sure, we can make a great plan for our future. But will our plan work out as we have planned? Therefore, the Bible tells,
In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9)
We can plan our courses in our heart, but God determines our next steps. Again, our God is the master of our future, not us. Then what should be our attitude toward our future and lives? Again, the Bible tells,
That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
One of the wisest persons ever-lived is King Solomon. The Bible describes as follows:
In fact, His wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of the East and the wise men of Egypt at his time. He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite and the sons of Mahol—Heman, Calcol, and Darda. His fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. He could speak with authority about all kinds of plants, from the great cedar of Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows from cracks in a wall. He could also speak about animals, birds, small creatures, and fish. And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. (1 Kings 4:30-34)
King Solomon concluded one of his wisdom books, Ecclesiastes with “That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)” He was also the richest King in the Israel history. He had a huge amount of gold and silver. For example, he treated silver as ordinary rocks on ground. He had huge armies, and the surrounding nations were subjected to him and brought gold, silver and other precious things every year. He said in the book of Ecclesiastes,
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:10,11)
He did everything that we wanted, and possessed whatever he liked. But at the end of his days, he found everything was meaningless, as chasing after the wind. Nothing was gain under the sun, if the pursuit was only for the world that we see and touch now. Nothing in this world lasts forever, and all efforts putting in are futile. The rich fool completely missed this truth.
Then what should be our attitude toward the world and things in it? Should we hold on tight with our hands thing of the world? No, we shift our focus from this world, and fear God and obey his commands. Why? Because it is everyone’s duty before our creator, Our God.
If we are working for things in the world day and night, then who are the master? The world. If so, we are salves to the world. No, we cannot be slaves to the world. We are the children of God, who dearly loves us for all circumstances. As the children of God, then what should we do? We should please our ever-loving Father. How to please Our God? By seeking His kingdom and His righteousness, which should be our ultimate goal while we are on earth.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)