Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

 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.”   Luke 12:15-21.  (Emphasis added.)

How hard it is to not be greedy!

How hard it is to not store up treasures for ourselves!

But, we should be “rich toward God”.

It was interesting to read the following Scriptures which I pulled up with the words “rich” and “God”.  Each verse has its own clear lesson which needs no further explanation. 

Psalm 52:6-8:

“The righteous will see and fear,
         And will laugh at him, saying, 
    “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
         But trusted in the abundance of his riches
         And was strong in his evil desire.” 
    But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
         I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.”

Ecclesiastes 5:19
“Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor;  this is the gift of God.”

Ecclesiastes 6:1-5:

“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men–a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction.  If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he, for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity;  and its name is covered in obscurity.  “It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than he.”