So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Our current church culture, one where we value beautiful buildings, comfortable seating, and costly accouterments, tends to define “rich toward God” as being generous in our financial giving to church. To be sure, the Bible does teach us to give financially. It even tells us to do so both cheerfully and bountifully. I do not in any way deny or discourage that.
But I don’t believe that is the gist of this passage. Neither do I believe giving to church constitutes laying up treasure in heaven. Indeed, if our heart is in love with financial treasures, that’s a problem even if we have laid it up in heaven.
Consider the context. The point Jesus was making is that the man’s wealth, savings, and plans for bigger barns were meaningless. Our Father knows what we have need of. Our Father needs none of what we have. He is perfectly capable of caring for His own in a manner far exceeding what we may gain on our own. We cannot buy His favor nor develop a walk with Him by paying Him off.
Being rich toward God means having an increasing relationship and walking with Him. It means to live in constant preparedness for that night our soul will be required of us. Our treasure in heaven must be God alone.
That is the sort of wealth God respects.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824
For this and, more than 5600 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.
If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.
My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org
No comments:
Post a Comment