Jesus said: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;
life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." (Luk 12:15).
And he told this parable: A rich man's land yielded a bountiful harvest.
He thought to himself what to do since he had no place to store his crops.
Then he said that he would tear down his barns and build bigger ones,
and there he would store his surplus grain. And he told himself that he would
have plenty of grain stored for many years. This will enable him to take life easy,
eat, drink and be happy. But God told him that he was a fool.
That very night his life would be claimed from him.
Who then would receive what he had prepared for himself?
So it is with the one who stores up things for himself
but isn't rich with God (Luk 12:16–21).
Jesus' half-brother James wrote: "Now listen, you who say: 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?
You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead,
you ought to say: 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'
As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." (James 4:13–17). See the following videos:
- Time 12:46–15:43 in Bible Q & A With Pastor Paul │ January 2024.
- Time 0:19–4:27 in Bible Q&A∙Episode 6.
Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious
about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body,
what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more
than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap,
they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.
Of how much more value are you than the birds! And
which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious
about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow
is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.
For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added
to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves
with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens
that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Luk 12:22–34).
The meaning of "Sell your possessions, and give to the needy" is to be free
from the control of my money by being generous with it. By doing so, I am investing in God's kingdom. It doesn't mean that I have to give away everything I have. This means that my focus shouldn't be on material possessions, see The Love of Money.
See also Laying up treasures in Heaven
and Don't be anxious in The Sermon on the Mount.
For information on other parables, see Jesus' Parables.
