THE TAKEAWAY:
I Shall Not Want 2: Hoarding and collecting need to be replaced with generosity.
MESSAGE:
Pokémon cards are ridiculous. The cards have such high value to them that businesses are now investing in them like stocks. Traders will spend hundreds getting their cards graded by experts so that they can claim that their holographic Mewtoo GX is worth $500 dollars. There is a whole culture of influencers who open booster packs on video and react to how rich they will get from rare cards. China started making fake rare cards to flood the market. My own son keeps asking me constantly, “Daddy, how much does this card cost?” because he wants to be insanely rich from his own collection. Apparently, there is also a game you can play with these cards, but I haven’t met anyone who knows how to play it.
One of Jesus’ most hard-hitting parables came when someone interrupted him to settle a dispute about inheritance money. Jesus improvised this parable to teach about the dangers of greed. In the parable, a farmer strikes it rich with a plentiful crop. He is so enamored by his riches that he immediately builds a silo for them and lives off the abundance. The very next day, God tells the man that he is going to lose his life, and he won’t take any of it with him. The message ends with “This is what happens to someone who hoards their possessions instead of being rich toward God.”
Some key points to note: the farmer received this abundant crop as a gift from God. When it came time to manage that gift, he worried more about how to store the grain for his own use than about managing it generously. This holds true in the geek world, where geeks love collecting things. Old VHS tapes, stamps, cards, comics, Nintendo cartridges, and CDs are just a few of the things we love to put on display, leading us to ask: “I have so much, how can I store it better so I can enjoy it?”
When God gives us an abundance, the first question we need to ask is, “How can I manage this in a way that honors God?” Whether it is a paycheck, a closet full of clothes, or old toys, we need to exercise generosity as our top priority. Jesus’ parable is not telling you to avoid having good things; instead, he is commanding you to make some of your good things someone else’s good things.
FIGURE IT OUT:
3 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
16 He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. 17 He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ 18 He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:13-21
- Circle some keywords or phrases that are significant to you. What makes them important?
- Why do you think Jesus was inspired to tell this parable when he was interrupted?
- What kind of future are we building if we are always generous with our abundance?
- How does being rich toward God look in your life?
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