Lessons On Savings From a Rich Man
Series: Saving & Investing Wisely
Devotional: 1 of 3
[Jesus] told [His disciples] 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.”
Luke 12:16-21
It isn’t terribly uncommon to come across a Christian who believes that saving money is a sign of distrusting God. The main argument comes from this passage in Luke 12 when Jesus shares a story about a rich man. The man had a very fruitful harvest and decided to store up all of it. Critics who read this immediately point out that Jesus was scolding the fact that he stored away crops for the future.
In some ways, this isn’t entirely wrong. However, there are still several examples throughout the Bible of where God encourages saving money.
So what exactly was Jesus warning us against by sharing this story? Over the next 3 weeks, we will look at the things that this rich man did wrong.
Thought only about himself
This man had so much left over that he had to build new barns in order to store everything. Yet he did not stop for a second to consider alternative uses for this food. He references himself 10 times… “my crops,” “my barns,” “I..myself…himself.”
This rich man did not stop once to consider God… “God what would you have me do?”
Nor did he consider others… “How can I help others with this abundance?”
This man’s only thoughts were selfish. He only considered his own well-being. In fact, he probably thought it was a really great business move to hold his surplus. Maybe he considered holding onto it until a drought or famine hit the land. If that happened, he would be able to charge very high prices for the crops he had.
So while we have a ton of evidence in the Bible that practicing saving for our futures is wise God does not bless us so we can spend our fortunes only on ourselves.
God blesses you so you can go be a blessing to others.
2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
Paul Tripp, in his book Redeeming Money, says, “Sadly, with our wallets we tend to be glory thieves, wanting for ourselves what belongs to God.”
Don’t be a glory thief… Instead, go before God and ask him what he would have you do with the money he has blessed you with!
Katie J
Reflection Questions
- Are you using your wealth, however big or small, to bless others?
- What do you think Paul Tripp meant when he said that we can be “glory thieves?”
- As you assess your spending during the past few months, what heart allegiances are exposed? Have you been using your money like the rich fool?
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