Life is not about possessions...life is about God!

And [Jesus] said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” -Luke 12:15

Jesus tells a parable of a rich man who grew an abundance of crops and built a new barn to store them. The rich man feels the security and contentment of abundance and thinks about how relaxing life will now be. He is considered a foolish man because that night his life will be taken and his treasure is of no use to him. The rich man had an empty treasure--one that would not bring the security he wanted.

Life is not about possessions, it is about God! The fault with the rich man was not that he was rich or that he had possessions. The fault was what he was treasuring. His treasure was abundance, and how easy and relaxing his life would now be.

O how easy it is to be like the rich man. The desire to have an easy life full of financial security to fall back on during those tough times. It is such the common way of thought in our culture and much of the world--save enough so that when hard times come you can rely on money.

A bit of clarification. It is not wrong to have possessions, money or savings. The point of this parable is to show that these things are not supposed to be our treasure. Do not put your hope in money. Don't make your life's ambition to have worldly treasures so that life can be easy and relaxing.

Back to verse 15, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness..."

How do I keep myself from making possessions and money my treasure?
One way is to guard my heart from all covetousness. It is the coveting heart that leads to a treasuring heart when what is coveted is received. Fight against ALL the coveting tendencies of the heart and so train your heart to not treasure what should not be treasured.

Lord help me fight!