TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.” Luke 12:17-18
Read: Luke 12:16-21
Listen: Luke 12
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Jesus tells a parable in which the rich man’s conversation with himself features two words: “I” and “my.” The rich man wholly focuses on what he will do and how he will take care of his crops. Self-serving and self-focused, the rich man doesn’t care about others and doesn’t care about God. He only cares about himself and how to “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” His gravitational pull is to take care of himself.
It can be the same for us. It’s easy to slip into being self-serving and self-focused regarding our wealth. Our eyes focus on the next big thing we want we think will make us whole. But the truth is that living in Jesus’s character means looking at the money we earn as “probably not just for me.” It’s a change to focus from us to others. This means not spending all our retirement savings so our spouse has money when we die. It means putting a bonus into a savings account to help others attend college. Or we might donate money left over after paying bills to help a church or hospital on the other side of the world. It’s a shift from seeing our money not just for us—but for God and others.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
This week, we’ve looked at a man who viewed his money as only to eat, drink and be merry. It may be time for you to sit down with your spouse, a trusted friend or maybe even a financial planner to have a serious conversation about your money and financial goals. Take time to determine if your finances are about eating, drinking and being merry—or about God and others.
2023 SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Join us all of 2023 developing a different spiritual practice each month. SPIRITUAL PRACTICES are intentional regular activities to deepen our relationship with God and mold us to be more like Jesus.
June is WORSHIP. Keep track of our spiritual practices at beyondtheweekend.org/spiritualpractices.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
