Treasures on Earth

5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you (James 5:5-6).

There was once a man who had everything. All of his needs were met and much more beyond. He has 12 cars. A house in Montana and Florida (who want to live in Montana in the winter?) and his very own private jet so that we could fly all over the world anytime he wanted to. He had jewelry so that everyone would see how wealthy he was by just looking at what hung around his neck or glimmered on his fingers. He kept race horses in a huge barn on his property so that he could marvel at these wonderfully powerful animals. He’d race them on the weekends and make even more money. In addition, he had an Olympic size swimming pool so that people could come over to his house and have a good time at his pool parties. His stock portfolio was soaring with each passing day since he hired the best money manager to oversee his assets. He has more money than he could ever have time to spend and with each passing day it kept increasing.

Little did he know that he had cancer until one day he felt a lump on the back of his neck. He went to the doctor and was told that this cancer was very serious and that he would be dead in less than two months.

How do you think this man felt about all his possessions then? Do you think he was saying to himself, “Man! If only I had more time with the race horses! If only I could fly the jet one more time to Europe! If only I could get one more diamond ring and slip it on my finger to show all my friends!”

Of course not! When death is just around the corner, you don’t care about those things. You only care about God, and your loved ones. This is James’s point in our verses for today. All of the luxury that the world provides doesn’t matter! It’s good while we have it, but we won’t have it for very long. If that is all we have we are going to be very disappointed when we die.

Read Luke 12:16-21

• What does this parable of Jesus have to do with our devotion for today?

• How can you structure your life so that things that truly matter are your focus?

Prayer

Our Father, may we not be like the man in our devotion today or the man in Jesus’ parable. We want to how our focus on eternity and not solely on the things of this world. Our hearts pander for idols. We repent. We want the power to turn from them and turn to you. Help us by your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.