Days of Praise

[Ray]

Lessons from the Rich Fool​

“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20)

This sobering verse gives in a nutshell God’s evaluation of people whose dominating concern is the accumulation of material possessions. Such a person is, by the Lord’s own testimony, a fool.

But before the man in this parable became a covetous fool, he first became a self-centered clod, interested only in his own desires. In the verses comprising his monologue (Luke 12:17-19), he used the personal pronouns “I” and “my” no less than 11 times and then even addressed himself using the pronoun “thou” or “thine” twice more.

Satan was the first to be covetous and proud: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:...I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Lucifer’s primeval, self-seeking covetousness brought rebellion and sin into the angelic host and then into the human family. Ever since his fall, he has used this deadly sin of self-centeredness to keep men away from God and to lead them into all kinds of other overpowering sins.

In the case of the rich man, his pampering of self had led him into a life of such greed and covetousness that he was still concerned only with his own personal comfort (“eating and drinking”) right up to the day of his death. He “thought within himself” (Luke 12:17), giving no thought whatever to God’s will or the fact that all his possessions really belonged to God. Multitudes over the ages have been overtaken by this same sin of self-centered covetousness, perhaps never more pervasively than in modern America, even among American Christians. To anyone of such covetous spirit, the day may soon come when the Lord will say, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.”

Days of Praise

 

[David Koberstein]

Lessons from the Rich Fool​

“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20)

This sobering verse gives in a nutshell God’s evaluation of people whose dominating concern is the accumulation of material possessions. Such a person is, by the Lord’s own testimony, a fool.

But before the man in this parable became a covetous fool, he first became a self-centered clod, interested only in his own desires. In the verses comprising his monologue (Luke 12:17-19), he used the personal pronouns “I” and “my” no less than 11 times and then even addressed himself using the pronoun “thou” or “thine” twice more.

Satan was the first to be covetous and proud: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:...I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Lucifer’s primeval, self-seeking covetousness brought rebellion and sin into the angelic host and then into the human family. Ever since his fall, he has used this deadly sin of self-centeredness to keep men away from God and to lead them into all kinds of other overpowering sins.

In the case of the rich man, his pampering of self had led him into a life of such greed and covetousness that he was still concerned only with his own personal comfort (“eating and drinking”) right up to the day of his death. He “thought within himself” (Luke 12:17), giving no thought whatever to God’s will or the fact that all his possessions really belonged to God. Multitudes over the ages have been overtaken by this same sin of self-centered covetousness, perhaps never more pervasively than in modern America, even among American Christians. To anyone of such covetous spirit, the day may soon come when the Lord will say, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.”

Days of Praise

Wealth and riches are not inherently evil.
They are God given tools to bless others. In Jewish thought we do not own anything and like the rich man we can be called into account at anytime. Instead we are managers of the wealth we have been blessed with by Adonai.
Shalom

 

[David Koberstein]

Wealth and riches are not inherently evil.
They are God given tools to bless others. In Jewish thought we do not own anything and like the rich man we can be called into account at anytime. Instead we are managers of the wealth we have been blessed with by Adonai.
Shalom

To add a footnote to my above post. As Jews we are to bless others and be a light to the nations. It amazes me to see how people are so materialistic as they cling to their materialistic possessions. I never did see a hearst pulling a U-Haul to the cemetery.
Shalom

 

[Administrator]

To add a footnote to my above post. As Jews we are to bless others and be a light to the nations. It amazes me to see how people are so materialistic as they cling to their materialistic possessions. I never did see a hearst pulling a U-Haul to the cemetery.
Shalom

 

[David Koberstein]

Oh maybe I did

 

[Ray]

God My Personal Savior​

“And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” (Luke 1:47)

One of the most wonderful titles of the Lord Jesus Christ is that of Savior. This word (Greek soter, from which is derived our theological term “soteriology,” the study of salvation) occurs 24 times in the New Testament and is applied only to Christ, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

It occurs first of all on the lips of the virgin Mary in our text above when she realized that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Savior. It is significant that this first use of soter recognizes that our Savior can be none other than God Himself—“God my Savior”—and also that this fact should cause our spirits to rejoice, as Mary’s did. He becomes our personal Savior when we believe on Him like Mary.

He is also “the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42; 1 John 4:14) and the “Saviour of all men” in the sense that His work on the cross is sufficient to save all who will receive Him.

There are eight other verses in the New Testament in which “Savior” is taken as synonymous with “God.” The final occurrence of “Savior” is one of these, and it is in one of the greatest doxologies of the Bible. “To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 1:25).

There are many today who see the man Jesus as a great teacher and example but reject His deity. There are many others who believe in a cosmic deity of some kind but are unwilling to believe that He could become uniquely incarnate in a perfect man. How urgent it is that we believe and teach that our Creator must also become our Savior if we are ever to be saved. We must “trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). Then we can rejoice with Mary in “God my Saviour.”

Days of Praise

 

[Ray]

“Jesus wept.”
(John 11:35)

This two-word verse is packed with meaning. Jesus hears his close friend Lazarus is quite ill, and Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, urgently send for Jesus. But Jesus waits two days before journeying to Bethany to see them, and Lazarus dies.

Jesus arrives at the tomb with the grieving sisters. His heart breaks for his friends, and He weeps with them (John 11:35). This is astonishing considering that Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead only moments later.

Why would the Son of God openly weep while knowing He was about to restore Lazarus to life? The answer is clear: Jesus loves us. The depth of His compassion is beyond comprehension. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus, our all-powerful Creator and Redeemer, describes His own character, telling us He is “meek and lowly in heart.”

Jesus’ love for us today is no less than His love for those three siblings. He empathizes with us when we struggle under the burdens of this broken Earth (Hebrews 4:15), and He mourns with us when we grieve.

No doubt Jesus’ resurrection miracle instantly changed Mary’s and Martha’s tears of grief into tears of unspeakably great joy. This miracle was a clear sign of Jesus’ own upcoming resurrection and His absolute power over creation and even death.

On the last day, when we meet Jesus face to face, we will be overcome with joy, and Jesus will enfold us in His arms, the same arms that have held us from the moment of our conception, and welcome us home to the place He’s prepared for us (John 14:3). “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain….Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:4-5). MJS

Days of Praise