The Greedy Man with Large Barns

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

November 26, 2019

The Greedy Man with Large Barns

Page 199

Luke 12: 12-21

A few years ago, there was a TV commercial featuring a man sitting at a table with four children. The man’s conversation with the children reinforced the theme that faster is better, bigger is better, more is better. That’s pretty much the prevailing sentiment of our culture. We are taught from a very early age to strive for more of everything. The affluent are not the only ones caught up in this way of thinking. Those living from paycheck to paycheck are just as susceptible to exchanging cultural icons such as smartphones and electronic gizmos for life’s actual necessities. This isn’t just a twenty-first century phenomenon. The appeal to Jesus to settle a land dispute illustrates this point.

The brother asking Jesus to settle the land dispute, and the rich fool in the parable Jesus tells next are typical of the prevailing attitude in Israel at that time. Ownership of the land was paramount to having a sense of security and a means to generate prosperity. In contrast to that attitude, Jesus was proclaiming the coming Kingdom of God, where the prevailing attitude will be how to share the love and grace that God is showering upon his people.

My Takeaway: The Apostle Paul, when making his appeal for the followers of Jesus to seek the life in Christ, affirms Jesus’ teaching about the greedy man with large barns:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4 NRSV).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.