There is a TV show called, "American Pickers." Maybe you've seen it. It's two guys from Iowa driving around the country in search of old "treasure" - antiques. These guys will spend hundreds of dollars on rusty, old, broken pieces of items from fifty years ago or more. Sometimes they find a jackpot and will spend thousands! I'm sure it is a fun adventure searching for relics of our country's past, and truly finding treasure can be fun. Many times they will come across a person who has sheds and sheds full of "treasure." Some only valuable to the collector. Nonetheless, just think about how much stuff they have! Maybe you need to see it to appreciate it, but it reminds me of something Jesus once said:
Luke 12:16-21
"And he told them this parable: The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."
So often we are consumed with having more or better things. We're no better than the person Jesus described in these verses. We get sad or even upset when we don't feel we have enough. We can become consumed with righting this "wrong." We come up with creative ways and excuses for accumulating more stuff. Just when we think we have enough, we discover there is more to obtain. We see it on TV or we see it in the homes of others. The pursuit of "more" can be never ending.
The story of the leaders of the Enron Corporation is a perfect example of where this lust can lead. Former Vice Chairman J. Clifford Baxter fulfilled Jesus words. After much scrutiny, law enforcement found that he had ended his own life - unable to bear the guilt of what he'd done and how his desire for more stuff and more money stole the security and future of the company's employees who ultimately lost all of their retirement savings.
So I ask you, what are we seeking? What are the treasures we are trying to obtain or collect? Shouldn't we seek to be rich toward God, our Father (Luke 12:29-34)? Let's attempt to be content with what we already have in material form, and seek the treasures of Heaven instead. Those are the only treasures that will follow us when we depart this life.
Father, give us your wisdom as we think about the material things of this world we live in. Give us clarity on what treasures we should truly be seeking and help us glorify you and help us bring others into the saving grace of Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment