James 5:1 – 3 “Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail for the misery to come upon you. Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire.”
“And I KNOW that God wants to make you rich!!!” The famous evangelist was magnificent in his shining white suit! Looking over the thousands gathered in the huge megachurch, Pastor X congratulated himself on another outstanding service. Today the collections should be enormous, and there was still money to come in from on – line donations. Yes, this was what a truly successful ministry looked like! He could scarcely wait to hop into his Mercedes Benz and drive back to his mansion in the finest part of town. Suddenly, on the curtain behind the evangelist, a huge hand wrote a single word “FINISHED!” And as the horrified congregation looked on, the evangelist crumpled to the floor, clutching his chest. A doctor in the congregation rushed to the platform and began CPR. Others in the congregation called for an ambulance. But all attempts at resuscitation were in vain. And the ministry that appeared to be an unqualified success that morning began a downward spiral into oblivion.
What are we worshiping? If we worship anything or anybody less than God, we are deceiving ourselves. Jesus warned his disciples about this very thing. The story is found in Luke 12:15”And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’ This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”
If COVID – 19 has taught us nothing else, it should have taught us that businesses and careers can disappear in an instant. Things that appeared so trustworthy a few months ago have disappeared completely.
God is the only One worthy of our praise and our worship. It is God whom we should trust and not money or any organization. Organizations are man – made; the day the men who have created them fail, the organization can fail as well. And serving groups that encourage violence is highly dangerous; what if the organization decides you are expendable?
Later in Luke 12: 32 – 34 Jesus gives us the only answer that will last: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
PRAYER: Father God, help us to trust you above all else. Help us to serve you and love you. In this way, we will have treasure in heaven. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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