Luke 12:15
Thoughts from Pastor Josh
Dive Deeper
But He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.” But He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.”
Luke 12:15
Behind the Scenes
Have you ever sat and calculated your net worth? My husband and I recently had to estimate our net worth for a refinance we were applying for on our home. I’d done this process before, but for some reason this time it hit me. As I calculated up all the things we owned- Cars, home, valuables, savings, investments, etc.- I felt this heaviness in my heart. All our lives’ possessions and all that we had worked to earn were all reduced to numbers on the page.
When all was said and done, I wish I could tell you the final total was something substantial. But it wasn’t. In fact, it was pretty average at best. When taken into account, our net worth was nothing to be excited about, nothing noteworthy or make us stand out from a crowd.
I remember feeling like it sat ill with me. That number on the page didn’t even come close to representing the life we had built. It was hollow and empty in comparison. See, what that number could not capture were the memories, the love, the happiness, the struggles, or the lessons learned. It didn’t capture the way my daughter belly-laughs out loud at jokes or the goofy way my son likes to dance to make you smile when you’re sad. It didn’t capture the years of struggle to finally pay off all our credit card debt. It didn’t capture the sacrifices made or the self-discipline needed to live on a single income when my kids were small. It didn’t capture the memories of sweet moments shared between my husband and me. It didn’t capture the many, many prayers between God and us as we learned what it really meant to trust Him with our whole lives- including our finances.
That number, staring back at me in black and white, was just a number. And it was missing so much!
Make it Real
See, that’s the point that Jesus is making here. Things are just things… and money is just a thing. They come and go. They are temporal and passing away. They don’t define us or make up who we are… not, that is, unless we let them. We get to choose how much we are defined by the things of our life. See, I had a choice looking at that number. I could choose to let that number define my worth or not. I had to choose whether I was going to fixate on that number or move on.
It’s so easy as temporal, physical beings to be fixated on temporal, physical measurements. We see things that we can touch, feel, or count and we instinctively turn them into measurements. But that’s not how God sees our lives and it isn’t how we should view them either. Life is SO much more than the temporal measurements of this world.
Jesus calls us to something more than hollow and limited worth built on a crumbling and decaying mountain of things. He calls us to a life that is defined and built on Him and His eternal promises. A life that is focused on accumulating heavenly treasures over earthly ones. He calls us to a life that is defined by the eternal because we are more than just temporal, physical beings. We are eternal beings too, and we have so much more eternal life to live than we will ever live in the flesh.
So, we get to choose- what will we be defined by? Will we be defined by God and His measurements or by the measurements of this world? If we choose the latter, we will inevitably fall into greed. It’s the only natural conclusion. We cannot focus on the things of this world and not be consumed by them. And we cannot serve God while our eyes are fixed on possessions. It just doesn’t work. So again, what will you choose?
When we choose to put God on the throne of our lives, giving Him and Him alone the authority to determine our worth, we will find that we live freer, happier, and more alive. We will be less susceptible to unrighteous attitudes like greed because we no longer trust in things to make us enough. When He is our enough, our eyes will be focused on eternity. And truly, that’s the best way to live!
Crystal Garnett
ACF Digital Discipleship Team Lead
End in Prayer
Lord,
Thank You for the possessions You have provided. Thank You that You bless me more than I deserve. Help me not to look at the blessings, but instead look to You, the giver of those blessings, for my worth. Help me to not be consumed by greed or the preoccupation with things of this world. You alone are the one who defines my REAL worth. Help me to remember that whenever I start to doubt. Help me to understand Your love for me far supersedes the temporal worth of the things of this world.
In Jesus Name,
Amen