Saturday, October 20, 2012

The True Treasure


Luke 12:13-21
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Today I attended a funeral, the second one this week, and two more than I wanted to attend.  The reminder that we always get at funerals is that life is short and we never know when our time to leave this earth will be.   Funerals usually provoke in me the thoughts of what my funeral will be like.  I really don’t care that they speak words of flattery regarding me.  What I want at my funeral are words that bring glory to God.  Words that will give people the assurance of their salvation if only they believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ.  I want for them to share of the richness they can find in knowing, not me, but the Lord Jesus Christ. 
The richness in this life does not come from the material things we have on this earth but the Bible tells us it is about being rich toward God.  So, how are we rich toward God?  The answer can be found in Mark 10: 17 – 21, NIV 1984, 17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010:17-21&version=NIV1984
When it all comes down to the end, it doesn’t matter what great things we have accomplished, how many people we have pleased, or whether we have money.  What matters in this world is that we have served Him unselfishly.  That we have only not put others before ourselves but that we have put God above ourselves and others and that God has been magnified.
No, I don’t want people to talk about all the good that I have done for I am not good.  I want people to talk about the goodness of our Father in Heaven.  I want them to talk about how we should not worry about the things of this world, how this world is not our home, and how we can only have hope and an eternal glorious future when we put our trust in Jesus Christ our Lord.
As you seek Him, may the words of the Psalmist touch your heart as he says, Psalm 27:8, NIV 1984, My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”  Your face, Lord, I will seek. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2027:8&version=NIV1984 May you seek His face and not the treasures of this world!

Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila


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