Rich toward God

"Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

We are told in Luke's gospel of a time when an individual who remains anonymous asked Jesus to interfere in a family matter concerning the distribution of inheritance. Jesus responded, as was His M.O., with a straightforward statement indicating His position on the matter, followed by a profound teaching intended to pierce to the heart of the matter, driving past the natural, physical inclination to explore the impact on the soul and spirit. In this instance, Jesus' direct statement was, "Who made me a judge or arbitrator over you." Like I said - direct. He followed with a teaching that we will unpack in this post. Let's get started.

First, look at the statement found at the beginning of our post. Starting with words like "take care" and "on your guard" helps us understand that whatever follows needs to be sincerely heeded. "Watch Out" or "Heads Up!" may be how we would say it today. When Jesus decided to expound on the matters of having stuff (inheritance), he began with an exclamation of warning - "On Guard!" Why? Because covetousness, all of it, is coming at you, and it intends to steal your life!

We were not made to possess stuff. Humans were created as stewards to "work" and "keep" the created world (Genesis 2:15). The life given to us was never intended to be used for accumulating possessions. God did not create people to horde up but rather to organize, multiply, and care for what He provided for their sustenance. Yet, we humans went in our own direction and propagated the philosophy: "he who dies with the most stuff wins." But, according to the most influential person in history, having stuff does not make life. A possible response to this truth could be that while having stuff may not make life, it does make life better. Duly noted. However, let's not focus on the wrong subject in Jesus' warning.

The stuff is not the problem. The covetousness is. The existence of stuff in your life does not add or detract from your life except to the extent you allow it. It may make you more comfortable. It may make you feel safer from potential loss. But it may also distract you or even blind you from the life intended for you. Coveting the stuff you have will, without question, spoil your life and destroy the purpose of your existence.

Jesus goes on in Luke's account to give a parable illustrating this principle. In His parable, Jesus explains that a "rich man" had land that produced "plentifully." So, we start out with a man described as "rich." The man likely had what he needed before his land produced plentiful abundance. It is also likely these additional riches did not change his position in the slightest other than changing his perspective on the stuff he had. He immediately begins looking at his abundance of crops and determines the right thing to do is "tear down" the barns he already possessed to build bigger. All this was to be done so that he could store his abundance and say within his soul that safety had been achieved - "relax, eat, drink, and be merry."

The parable ends with the rich man's foolishness being revealed in his death as all that he had stored up for himself was lost. In Jesus' parable, the rich man's rationale was equated with a person who "lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." Rich toward God is a thought-provoking phrase. How can we be rich toward God? 

Let's consider the rich fool as the antithesis of richness toward God. Now, we see some personal and spiritual postures that will lead us in the right direction.

1. Being generous toward God starts with selflessness. The rich fool was not selfless. Instead of looking to other's needs, he immediately sought a means to keep his increasing wealth.
2. Contentment with what is possessed is needed as well. The rich fool had barns for his abundance. He looked to tear them down and build bigger when more than enough came in. He was living richly already, but he was not content.
3. Gratitude is a significant factor in being rich toward God. The rich fool expresses no thankfulness to God for his abundance. Had he been grateful, he would have praised God for his bounty.
4. An eternal orientation is required to be rich toward God. God lives in eternity. His kingdom is everlasting. Those who worship Him are eternal. To be generous toward God, a person must consider the eternal of greater value than the temporal. The rich fool was only looking to his immediate future. He had no concern for eternity.