Scripture:
"Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” - Luke 12:15
Thought for the day:
Last week I was asked to “sell my soul” to Verizon wireless for two more years so that I could upgrade my cell phone. I really wanted a new iphone but in the end I just couldn’t justify upgrading a phone that works perfectly fine and meets my “needs” if not my desires.
Anyhow, it got me to wondering about how willing we are to “sell our soul” for things. I made a two year commitment to a cell phone company so that I could have instantaneous access to others and they to me (at least within the realm of the “most reliable network.”)
We all make these commitments... Whether it is a two year commitment to a cell phone company or a five year commitment to a bank for financing reliable transportation or something else... What have you “sold your soul” to receive? How often we commit our current resources well into the future for something that is temporary.
Jesus told this parable: "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." (Lk 12:15-21)
What commitment have you made to God? As members of the United Methodist Church we have publicly committed to: a) Confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. b) Believe in the Christian faith as contained in the Old & New Testaments. c) Promised to live a Christian life and d) to uphold the United Methodist Church with one’s prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.
How are you doing with your commitment to God? Is it time to upgrade your commitment? Is now the time to reallocate your current resources of time, talent, and tithe from those things which are temporary to that which is eternal?
Prayer for the day: Merciful God, as I review the commitments I have made, I know that I have not been faithful. In my life, help me to first attend to that which is eternal. Amen.