The deceitful lure of riches - Part 3

As we continue to look at the topic about how riches can be deceitful we find several good points in Luke 12:13-21. Lets read it first and then I'll comment. 

Luke 12

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” ¹⁶ And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

In verse 13-14 we see that the coveting money can produce such strong quarrels that an arbitrator is needed to settle the dispute.

In verse 15 we see that abundance does not produce life. In verse 16-18 we see that managing an abundance can produce stress. Can you see that this man is struggling about what he will do with it. He needs to figure out how to keep it and not lose it. Today he might say if I invest it in the market here this bad thing might happen and I could suffer loss. But if I try to invest it over there this other bad thing might happen and again I might suffer loss. So abundance can bring a burden. It can be stressful to come up with a wise way to manage it in order to keep it and / or increase it.

Verses 18-19 show that there can be a danger in having too much. A person can develop a mindset that all of his needs are met and that he doesn't need to seek God. I will talk more about that later in this series. 

And last we see that this man is suddenly taken from this life.  He did not make a relationship with God his priority and as a result is judged by God. His money provides him no protection from hell. 

The next post in the series is called "Some spiritual dangers of seeking after wealth." 

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)