Stop Building Bigger Barns!

Luke 12:16-21 tells the story of a man who had a bountiful crop and his barns were not big enough to store the harvest. He decided to tear down the existing barns and build bugger barns to hold all his wealth so he could then eat, drink and be happy.
 
It's interesting to note several things about this story.  Depending on which version of the Bible you are reading, the man uses the terms "I" or "my" "me" or "mine" about twelve times in three short verses. His mindset is completely selfish.
 
He reaps so much from his crops that he has no place to store it, yet he never thinks about giving to the poor and sharing his bounty.  His whole focus is on keeping everything for himself.
 
He is wasting money by tearing down a perfectly good barn to build a bigger one, just to hoard the crops.
 
Like the man in these verses, it's easy to be self-centered, to ignore the needs of the poor and to waste money based on the messages we hear from our culture.
 
The problem is not in being rich. In fact there are many people in the Bible who are blessed by God with many riches. The problem is when our attitude towards the importance of worldly things overrides our attitude about the importance of spiritual things.
 
In today’s world, we are constantly deluged with the idea that the only way we can be happy is if we purchase the next greatest thing that is being advertised. We need the latest model car, the most up to date fashions, a bigger house or the newest electronic gadget.
 
A few short days or weeks after we purchase that longed for item, it becomes just another thing we own and we are looking for something else. Wealth and possessions will never make us happy for long.
 
We so often fail to realize that everything that we have comes from God. Nothing we have is based on our own efforts, but everything is a blessing that we have received from God. It is only in him that we find true happiness and fulfillment.
 
The Bible verses about the man building a bigger barn ends with God saying, "You fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you."   I don't know about you, but I want to be a good steward of God's blessings. At the end of my life, I would much rather hear "Well done my good and faithful servant...come share your master's joy."

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