Luke 12:13-21 Too Many Barns
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 11, 2018 Luke 12:13-21
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear 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, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
(Revelation of God) Jesus is the judge of all and lawyer for the redeemed, yet He made a point again and again that He did not come to judge the world when He was here. He tells the man that it is not His job to arbitrate legal issues because He had not been appointed to do so. This is a situation where Jesus refused to take worldly authority over people leaving that to the government appointed judges. Jesus stressed many times that His kingdom was not of this world. Thus, Jesus was refusing to take worldly power and trying to deter the people from their erroneous view of the Messiah as a worldly prince. If He had made a decision, He would have been fueling the fires of rebellion towards the Roman empire and He would have been a usurper. In a way, this was a temptation to acknowledge the prince of this world which at that time was Satan.
(Understanding the Text) This parable goes directly against the preachers of the prosperity gospel. It is spoken specifically against covetousness. The prosperity preachers would say that they are not coveting, but that following God yields material blessings. However, the very desire for those material things is covetousness. God’s word says many times to give to the poor and help the unfortunate. If we have excess and are simply storing it up for our own security, we should instead give it to God’s purposes, whether helping the poor, contributing toward missions, or using it to bring comfort to those who are in spiritual, emotional, or physical pain.
The question becomes how much savings is too much saving? When is it right to save as proverbs says and wrong to save as this parable says? Motivation would seem to be part of the problem.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I should trust Jesus to take care of me financially and use my money to help others. I should not believe that I need to take care of myself because I believe that God won’t or believe that my purpose in life is to have enough money so that I can just take it easy and play around. My life’s purpose is more than making money, and it is more than temporary pleasures. My life’s purpose is to serve Jesus whether I have money or not, whether I am working or not. If I am cheated out of money, it is irrelevant. God will provide for me what I need and give me jobs for the kingdom of heaven that are more important than storing up worldly goods. I want to trust You with my money and with my daily needs, but it is difficult when my savings are low and bills keep mounting. Give me faith in Your promise to take care of me in all circumstances.