"Bigger Barns"

And He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there will I store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But 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? “This is how it will be for anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”Luke 12:16-21(NIV).

You’ve heard the story about the man who climbed the ladder of success only to discover that he had leaned his ladder against the wrong wall. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Sometimes it takes years to find out that without God, it is indeed lonely at the top. There is only so much space on a ladder. This was never God’s intent. From the very beginning, God created mankind to dwell with Him; to share in a divine fellowship unlike that of any other created being. Man was made to worship God and to find his identity and purpose in Him.

Sadly, some of us have reckoned ourselves smarter than God. We've sought to live life on our terms, to worship what or whom we please. In our search to find true meaning in life, we often foolishly look beyond our Creator (The Person who holds the key to our ultimate joy and the only One worthy of our worship) to find meaning in relationships with people, status symbols, human accomplishments and the size of our barns. When those barns overflow with all of the stuff that we have accumulated, we build bigger barns. And on and on the cycle goes. The world calls this person a success. The Bible calls this person a fool.

Tell me, Beloved, what’s inside your barn? What have you been storing up with the life God gave to you? Is your barn filled with God’s merchandise or are you mostly rich toward yourself? Wouldn’t it be sad to arrive at the end of your days, only to realize that you had missed your life’s true purpose?

The good news is that if you are alive today, then you can make a change. You can stop right where you are and make a U-Turn toward God. Perhaps it is time for a garage sale; time for you to empty your barns of this world’s goods, and exchange it for some true riches that pay eternal dividends. Stop and think about that today.