Living in the Spirit
July 30, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:13-21

Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’ –Luke 12:16-21

The first thing to notice about this parable, the land is credited with producing abundantly. The rich man was not responsible for his wealth. Living in oil country taught me that lesson. Now some may believe that God chose them to inherit a farm homesteaded by an ancestor on land allotted by the government if they built a house on it and worked it and the land just happened to have an abundance of oil or gas below the surface. I guess that is the economic description of predestination. I tend to rely on the scripture that says it rains on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45) I am also not downplaying the results of hard work. Oil country is also farm country where we learn early the ebb and flow of booms and busts. The price of oil does not result from the amount of work required to bring it up from the ground. A lot of hard farm work can be wiped out in a few minutes by a hail storm.

A diversified economic system is necessary to assure the meeting of all people’s needs. We live in a world where we are each connected to the other, interdependent on the welfare of all, a gift inherited from God, the Father. Our relationship with God grows exponentially when our love for our neighbor is as important as our wanting the best for ourselves.

Prayer: Lord of the harvest, help us to see that the abundance of your life is defined by your love as is the abundance for each of our lives. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.