Word for the Day October
30 By:
Evang. Cascille Hammack "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who
will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Luke 12:20 Who is the man in Luke 12:20 who Jesus said God will call a fool? It
could be anyone who finds their goals and fulfillment centered in themselves and their possessions and not in God. 1
Samuel 16:7 says, "..The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but
the LORD looks at the heart.” The person God calls a fool could be someone who is successful in
the world's eyes in wealth but is not rich toward Him. God does not just consider them a failure, He considers them
a fool because they stored up treasures for themselves and not for Him. Jesus explained and detailed the life of a person
who lived for themselves rather than God in a parable. In Luke 12:15, He warned, "“Watch out! Be on
your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” In Luke 12:16-21,
"And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.
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. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy;
eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to
him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Jesus explained
in Matthew 6:20, "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal." In Matthew 16:24-27 Jesus taught, "Then Jesus said to
his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What
good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange
for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each
person according to what he has done." How do we store up treasures for God? We give Him our hearts and our lives. We live for
Him and not for ourselves. In Luke 12:34 Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
You must give your heart to the Lord and live for Him and not yourself. 1 Corinthians 6:19,20 says, "Do you not
know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." God spared nothing, but gave us His all and He
requires our all, our entire lives. Jesus paid for our lives with His blood shed on the cross. He held nothing
back, but laid His life down for us, that we could have life here and life eternally. When one of the
Pharisees asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment in order to test Him, in Matthew 22:37-39, "Jesus replied:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 'This
is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
He said in verse 40, "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Proverbs
27:1 says, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Tomorrow is promised
to no one. As David said in Psalm 119:36, "Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain."
To make earthly gain and wealth the desire of one's life is a fatal error that results in eternal loss. We must remember
Jesus said, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all things will be given
to you as well." Matthew 6:33
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