Bigger Barns

In order to be more effective in our use of what we have we accumulate more, extend our influence. We become very busy doing good, because when we are busy we don't have time for building the much more demanding and difficult personal relationships of love. -Tell It Slant, Eugene Peterson

Keeping to a theme of being satisfied with what God provides, my bookmark was left in this topic and as I read tonight, I thought how fitting it is. An important aspect we struggle with in this day (and, truthfully, since Cain and Abel). Today, though, we have ads and a culture that fosters coveting your neighbors and gaining wealth at any cost. Hoarding for ourselves a safety net, which turns into desires for a bigger house and a higher paying job. Our priorities are shifted to the self, rather than outward toward others. No wonder the statistic I've always heard about marriage is that 50% end in divorce.

As Eugene Peterson writes, "Just as idolatry results in a pollution of our love for God, so covetousness results in a pollution of our love for one another." As wealth increases, the greed creeps in and becomes the focus, instead of seeking all that is good and giving your love to your husband/wife/family/friends. Then, nothing is left to that relationship if you strip away all the wealth. The love dried up because it was never nourished.

Such is the warning Jesus gives in the parable of the barn builder. Read Luke 12.13-21. Jesus tells a story of a farmer whose harvest is abundant, so much so that it doesn't all fit into his barn. So, he decides the best solution is to build a bigger barn that can store everything for himself so he can relax and be at ease.
Then God comes along and says "Fool. Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods- who gets it?"

It really hits home when you put yourself into the story. And that is the point of the parables. That's why Jesus used them. We all tend to be barn builders at times, and we think we are right in doing so because we have worked hard and earned it, so we should be able to do what we want, right? Wrong. God comes along and, in essence, asks- where are you storing your treasures? (In heaven or on earth?)
Jesus says, "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God."