Bigger Barns or Bigger Blessings?

 

“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.”

          Luke 12:16-18

 

Look over those verses again closely.

Did you catch it?

It says: “The ground...yielded an abundant harvest.”

What is didn’t say was the skill of a certain rich man.

It was the ground.

He was fortunate; one might say this rich man was blessed.

But I can’t help but notice how many “I” statements followed.

Look with me at these verses:

‘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.”

No less than 5 times in two sentences of this parable from Jesus.

Greed can make us very self-centered.          

The indictment of this parable is not in the resources given to the rich man.

It was how he chose to use them.

We all face that same choice.

Greed is not a characteristic only of the wealthy.

You may not have two pennies to rub together and still be a selfish person.

When blessing are showered on you, do you imagine yourself consuming them only on me, myself and I?

Let me leave you with two questions to ponder...

What does the ground God has given you yield and how will you use it?