BEING
WITH THE HEAVENLY FATHER -
.......DEVOTIONS
FOR LAMBS.
No.
107
From Wendy Howard [Editor of Despatch magazine],
Sunshine Coast, Qld, Australia.
Access Online http://www.despatch.cth.com.au/Main/tabco_main
Getting
to know God together.
BEING
WITH THE HEAVENLY FATHER -
.......DEVOTIONS
FOR LAMBS.
No.
107
From Wendy Howard [Editor of Despatch magazine],
Sunshine Coast, Qld, Australia.
Access Online http://www.despatch.cth.com.au/Main/tabco_main
Getting
to know God together.
THAT SILLY RICH MAN.
Jesus told many wonderful stories
while He was on earth as a man.
These stories had a way of showing
people truths about themselves and life in word pictures. We call those
stories “parables.” One
story told all about a really silly rich man. He was so greedy and very
wealthy, and selfish and mean as can be as well.
He was like Scrooge McDuck,
or Scrooge in the famous Charles Dickens story about Christmas, “A Chistmas
Carol.”
Well, Jesus was teaching the people:
“And he spake (spoke) a parable
unto them, saying,
The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully (lots of good crops):
And he thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do,
because I have no room where
to bestow (store) my fruits?
And he said, This will I
do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater;
and there will I bestow (store)
all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul,
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;
take thine ease (have a rest),
eat, drink, [and] be merry.
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?
So [is] he that layeth up
treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
What was Jesus showing us in
that parable?
He was showing us that people
who have no time for God and just want money and more money are wasting
their time! It is very silly because all people have to end their lives.
That rich man in Jesus’ story couldn’t take all his money and crops with
him after he died, could he? And he wasn’t “rich toward God.” He had no
white robe, he could never go to be with God forever for he did not trust
in Jesus as Saviour! The silly rich man would not live on streets of gold
in heaven, he would go away from God forever and ever in hell. He had no
wonderful treasures of good deeds and service that he could offer to God
when he ended this life. He was poorer than the poorest beggar after he
died. And all his full barns and large bank accounts were left to other
people on earth. Couldn’t do him any good when he died, that’s for sure.
What about you? Are you going
to live to be rich towards God, or be like the silly rich man? Even a child
can have faith in Jesus and be a servant of the Living God. Build up treasures
for God in heaven, you never ever be sorry you did.
Jesus also said this:
“And he said unto his
disciples,
Therefore I say unto you,
Take no thought for your
life, what ye shall eat;
neither for the body, what
ye shall put on.
The life is more than meat,
and the body [is more] than raiment (clothes).
Consider the ravens (black
birds): for they neither sow nor reap;
which neither have storehouse
nor barn;
and God feedeth them: how
much more are ye better than the fowls?
...Consider the lilies how
they grow: they toil (work) not , they spin (work) not;
and yet I say unto you, that
Solomon (a very rich king)
in all his glory was not
arrayed (clothed) like one of these.
If then God so clothe the
grass, which is to day in the field,
and to morrow is cast into
the oven;
how much more [will he clothe]
you, O ye of little faith? “
(Luke 12: 22-28).
“...and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven:
and come [and] follow me.
“
(Matthew 19:21).
|
|
|
|
|
|