"A weekly Devotional by Gbile Akanni"
"And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."Luke 12:15 KJV
From the word “consist” the noun “constituent” is derived, and when you talk of constituent, you, are talking of the bits and pieces that you put together to make a whole.
Naturally, our own understanding is that there are certain things that make a good life. There are certain things that make one to say a man is comfortable. If any one comes now and congratulates you and says, “Thank God you have made it”, what are the parameters? Normally, he must have looked at your house, your car, your children and your job opportunity. He must have looked at your name, your position, your connection. When he put all these constituents together, he arrives at the conclusion that you are not a drop out. By what parameters therefore have men or even you drawn the current conclusion you presently hold about yourself?
If people are going to give honor to any man, they do so base on these constituents. So every man was born, initiated or taught according to the world principles to gather material things: clothes, money, houses, degrees, and all kinds of award. When you put these together it is what makes a man great in the world’s perspective. Yet, Jesus said, Beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consist not in the abundance of things which he possesses.
So what is covetousness?
Naturally, our own understanding is that there are certain things that make a good life. There are certain things that make one to say a man is comfortable. If any one comes now and congratulates you and says, “Thank God you have made it”, what are the parameters? Normally, he must have looked at your house, your car, your children and your job opportunity. He must have looked at your name, your position, your connection. When he put all these constituents together, he arrives at the conclusion that you are not a drop out. By what parameters therefore have men or even you drawn the current conclusion you presently hold about yourself?
If people are going to give honor to any man, they do so base on these constituents. So every man was born, initiated or taught according to the world principles to gather material things: clothes, money, houses, degrees, and all kinds of award. When you put these together it is what makes a man great in the world’s perspective. Yet, Jesus said, Beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consist not in the abundance of things which he possesses.
So what is covetousness?
According to Jesus, covetousness is not just the desire to have what does not belong to you. But a desire to have and to hold what belongs to you, but which you do not need today. Covetousness is a quiet confidence in what a man can put together to forestall tomorrow. Covetousness is a quiet desire to possess today, all which tomorrow will need. Covetousness is a desire to keep something that is not actually a necessity today, for next year. Covetousness is a desire to possess tomorrow, today.
Jesus said, take heed, as if to say, be careful, something dangerous is looming ahead of you. Beware of covetousness! It seems as if the people that were hearing Jesus were saying, “What do you mean? What is covetousness in this man’s request?” Even you that is going through this now, what is your heart saying? What are the queries that your heart is already quietly posting to the Master’s stand point and definition of covetousness here?
Jesus wanting to illustrate it for our simple minds to understand, said,
“The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.”
It is surely not a sin for somebody to plant and to work hard and to produce plentifully. No one desires to make a planting or an investment and does not plan to reap plentifully. Who would want to invest and would not want to have something good come out of it? The ground of that rich man brought forth plentifully. Note with me how the Bible puts it (particularly in the King James Version): the ground not the land. If it were just the land, it would have been easier to think may be the man was a farmer. But Jesus was talking of the ground. That ground in our case could be a business. That ground could be your intelligence, your job, your connection or your contact that produces contract. The ground of a certain rich man produced plentifully. I could be that certain man today. It could be you! What is that ground in your life that is presently bringing forth plentifully? What is your intelligence, job, position, connection, contact, opportunities producing for you right now?!
“And he thought within himself…”
What this man did here was not strange. You may get a contract for example, with a promise that in two weeks’ time your payment will be ready. Then you would start thinking: “what will I do? When I go and pick that cheque of ten million which is just my take away, what do I do? Should I buy a house in London? Should I change my car? What do I do?”
Such thoughts usually come quietly and deep in your heart at night; you just suddenly wake up and start smiling. If your wife asks, what happened? You would say, “I am just happy. The struggle of ten years is going to end tomorrow.” And as you are talking you’ll say, “I just got a mail that our partners in U.S. have got through and they are sending that thing. It is going to land here very soon and you know what that mean. That is in hard currency.” If you don’t have money you may not understand what I am talking about here. Wait until some money begins to roll into your hand; then you will have great difficulty, on how to spend it. It is because some people could not think well on how to spend it, you see them being foolish.
So, the ground of this man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself. Please note that… “He thought within himself.” This is it. You don’t think it out because you are afraid. If you talk aloud now and say that ten million is coming, before you know it, some thieves are knocking at your door demanding for the money. So you don’t say it aloud.
Many rich people don’t even eat well because of fear. Ask them how things are and they will tell you that there’s no money; we are still looking up. But they are thinking within, “What do I do? Should I build an underground?” They would call an architect to bring them one of their best designs, an edifice, and the best in town.
Let’s not think that the Lord is speaking here to someone else. Allow this mirror of the word of God to reflect back to us our own lives. You may not be stingingly rich, but, are you free from covetousness in the light of what Jesus is saying here? What are your plans over the plentiful that your ground has brought forth? What you are acquiring and accumulating with these proceeds from the ground of your life, are they making you rich towards God?
Dear Lord, your word admonishes me that if riches increase I should not set my heart upon them (Psalms 62:10), teach me therefore to take heed to myself and beware of this inconspicuous pit fall where many have ended their pilgrim journey and their carcasses littered this side of eternity. Give me light that I may know the constituents of a man’s life that matters before you.
“LORD HELP ME JUDGE MYSELF EACH DAY
TO WALK THIS NEW AND LIVING WAY
I SEEK THY GRACE WITH ALL MY HEART
TO BE MADE PURE JUST AS THOU ART. (Amen.)
Such thoughts usually come quietly and deep in your heart at night; you just suddenly wake up and start smiling. If your wife asks, what happened? You would say, “I am just happy. The struggle of ten years is going to end tomorrow.” And as you are talking you’ll say, “I just got a mail that our partners in U.S. have got through and they are sending that thing. It is going to land here very soon and you know what that mean. That is in hard currency.” If you don’t have money you may not understand what I am talking about here. Wait until some money begins to roll into your hand; then you will have great difficulty, on how to spend it. It is because some people could not think well on how to spend it, you see them being foolish.
So, the ground of this man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself. Please note that… “He thought within himself.” This is it. You don’t think it out because you are afraid. If you talk aloud now and say that ten million is coming, before you know it, some thieves are knocking at your door demanding for the money. So you don’t say it aloud.
Many rich people don’t even eat well because of fear. Ask them how things are and they will tell you that there’s no money; we are still looking up. But they are thinking within, “What do I do? Should I build an underground?” They would call an architect to bring them one of their best designs, an edifice, and the best in town.
Let’s not think that the Lord is speaking here to someone else. Allow this mirror of the word of God to reflect back to us our own lives. You may not be stingingly rich, but, are you free from covetousness in the light of what Jesus is saying here? What are your plans over the plentiful that your ground has brought forth? What you are acquiring and accumulating with these proceeds from the ground of your life, are they making you rich towards God?
Dear Lord, your word admonishes me that if riches increase I should not set my heart upon them (Psalms 62:10), teach me therefore to take heed to myself and beware of this inconspicuous pit fall where many have ended their pilgrim journey and their carcasses littered this side of eternity. Give me light that I may know the constituents of a man’s life that matters before you.
“LORD HELP ME JUDGE MYSELF EACH DAY
TO WALK THIS NEW AND LIVING WAY
I SEEK THY GRACE WITH ALL MY HEART
TO BE MADE PURE JUST AS THOU ART. (Amen.)
1 comment :
Lord help my life to judge myself each day and give me the grace to abide in You till the end
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