VS. March 30, 2025 Devotional
March 30, 2025
LUKE 12:16-21 | 16 Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” 18 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. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 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?” 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
Warnings, even harsh ones, can be loving and necessary. The parent who warns the child about the dangers of a fire or a busy street acts out of love and preserves life. The warning label on cigarettes about cancer-causing agents is grim, but it has lessened unnecessary deaths and prolonged others.
In the same way this parable is a warning label, a lesson in danger, for all of us who live in a material world. Jesus does not want us to reach the end of lives and then realize we’ve misunderstood what the good life really is. He wants to prevent that awful form of final regret: “If only I’d known!” How disappointing it would be to know abundant material success, which will be passed on to others, only to discover that one is a spiritual pauper, who saved dollars but wasted opportunities to love and bless.
Are you grateful for Jesus’ loving warnings?
Gracious God,
May I resist greed and cultivate charity, so that at my life’s end I’ll hear “well done good and faithful servant—enter into joy of your Father.”
Amen.
