Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Pastor Ruben preached a great message about selfishness this past Sunday in church. He cited the rich man whose story is found in the 12th Chapter of Luke who foolishly planned to store as much grain as he could so he could enjoy his retirement life in ease and pleasure. He pictured himself in his later years, eating, drinking, and being merry. He was not only wrong, he was dead wrong! 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?” (Luke 12:20)
To give additional confirmation to Pastor Ruben’s sermon, I saw a TV commercial yesterday morning where a woman starts by saying something like this: “I’m in my sixties, I’ve got a long life ahead of me.” Really, who said so? The world is filled with folks that make one plan after another for this life and never take eternity into consideration. They want to make all the money they can and don’t have any time for God in this life. They certainly don’t have time for something as silly as going to church every Sunday. Just like the man in the bible story, they only think of themselves, seldom thinking about what they can do for others. It was no different with the rich man Jesus spoke about in the 16th Chapter of Luke. In his lifetime, he never did anything for the poor beggar, Lazarus, who was at his gate every day just hoping someone would give him a few crumbs. Later when they both died, the rich man went to hell and Lazarus to paradise. This rich man too, selfishly lived for himself and when death found him, he was totally unprepared for eternity. To be fair, selfishness is not confined only to the wealthy. There are many selfish people in this world who are far from being rich.
The rich man in Luke, Chapter 12, never took this into consideration: Who made the rain that made his crops grow? Who made the soil from where they grew? Who made the seed he planted? Who caused the sun to shine? Who gave him the strength to do the work, or the wisdom to teach his workers how to do it? Lastly, who gave him his life? Is it any different for the people of today? Who has given them their jobs, careers, strength, wisdom or intelligence? You may have family members or friends in your life who are like that. Pray for them. Do what you can that they may hear the bible’s message of salvation while they are still on this side of eternity. As far as we are concerned, lets ask God to help us because if it appears in our life, selfishness is definitely something to be concerned about.
God’s word for Today: (Isaiah 55:6) “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”
