I READ sadly a very true story recently of a mother and father who had five daughters.

Dad was a banker and a wealthy man. The four older sisters all married and stayed close to home, but the youngest sister married and moved to the other side of the country.

Then dad suddenly passed away. The youngest sister and her husband flew home and noticed that everything in the house had a tag on it with a sister’s name.

The four older sisters had gone around and tagged everything they wanted. The atmosphere at dinner was tense, until the younger sister's husband couldn't take it anymore.

He got up, walked round and placed his hand on his mother-in-law's shoulder and said: “I see no one has put a tag on the most precious thing here. So she's ours.”

Greed can ruin the loveliest of homes.

In Luke chapter 12, someone in the crowd said to Jesus: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

He rudely accosted Jesus rather than asking Him to intervene. Jesus doesn't like his impertinence.

He replies: “Man, who appointed me judge or arbiter between you?”

The divine judge was not interested in the people's court, though as we know, He will judge one day, not in a people's court but a divine one.

Jesus then warns: “Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Greed means a boundless grasping after more, constantly breaking the 10th commandment, “You shall not covet”.

Paul groups greed alongside sexual immorality and impurity, calling it idolatry. The more you get, the more you want. Nothing satisfies, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Jesus tells the parable of the rich farmer, whose ground yielded an abundant harvest. Jesus doesn't condemn him for wealth, gained honestly through God's blessing.

But he thought to himself: “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones.”

He made three fatal mistakes: he mistook his bank book for his Bible, his body for his soul, and time for eternity.

Notice how many times he says “I” and “my”, eight times in all.

He resolved: “I will say to my soul, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years, take ease, eat, drink and be merry.”

His greatest mistake was living as though there were no God.

Then come the two most important words in the passage: “But God said to him, ‘You fool. This night your life will be demanded from you.’” He didn't reckon on the fragility of life.

This is how it will be, says Jesus, for whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.

Don't toss your soul away. Give it back to the One to whom it belongs, and leave it in His good hands.

Stephen Cousley

Minister

St Thomas Baptist Church, Exeter