Tonight, Your Soul is Required of You

As we talked to person after person, we witnessed how the disaster became a pivotal moment toward the real priorities in life. – Clint Decker

Have you ever read The Parable of the Rich Fool? It is an ancient story Jesus once told. Crowds would often follow Him, and people would ask questions. A young man once asked Jesus to get involved in a personal matter and make his brother divide the family inheritance with him. In response, Jesus made a profound statement, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15, image by Freepik)

Jesus laid His finger on the real issue with the young man. He loved the “stuff” of life too much.

Jesus illustrated His point with a story. He told about a wealthy farmer that had a tremendous harvest. As a result, the farmer said to himself, “‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” (Lk. 12:17-19) But in the midst of his reasoning, Jesus tells the crowd how God spoke to him saying, “‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Lk. 12:20-21)

The story communicated that life is more than the possessions we own. Jesus effectively made the point when He told how the farmer was confronted with his own mortality, and how that all he worked for and owned would stay behind when he entered eternity.

My wife and I witnessed the devastating losses people faced following one of the worst hurricanes in American history. While doing relief work, we saw families who lost everything. All their possessions were suddenly ripped away. As we talked to person after person, we witnessed how the disaster became a pivotal moment toward the real priorities in life.

Why wait to discover this when facing a crisis? Our stuff can sometimes become a distraction. As a result, we may live for today and neglect tomorrow, or in other words, live for what is important to us, rather than what is important to God.

Maybe we do not live for God because we do not know Him. The farmer got a wakeup call to that when God declared, “This night your soul is required of you.” Since He has power over life and death and the present and future, we ought to heed His warning. Let us make knowing God through Jesus our highest priority.

A prayer for you - Creator God, we are sorry we have made things more important than people. We are sorry we have put more trust in the things of this life, rather than you. Take our heart. Wash it clean of all our sin. Become the number one priority in our life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.