Spend Wisely

The Story of the Greedy Farmer From Luke 12 (The Message)

13Someone out of the crowd said, "Teacher, order my brother to give me a fair share of the family inheritance."
14He replied, "Mister, what makes you think it's any of my business to be a judge or mediator for you?"
15Speaking to the people, he went on, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot."
16-19Then he told them this story: "The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: 'What can I do? My barn isn't big enough for this harvest.' Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain and goods, and I'll say to myself, Self, you've done well! You've got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!'
20"Just then God showed up and said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?'
21"That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God."

How do you spend your time? Are you as concerned about what you're doing with your time as you are with what you're doing with your money? Isn't our time here a gift from God? How about our money...is that a gift from God?

These are a few of the questions that have been rolling around in my head lately.

There's a lot of talk these day about money. Everything right now seems to revolve around the presence or absence of money in our lives. Last year when the stock market tooks its tumble, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing about all the folks who had saved for retirement, lived simply, and lost everything. With the seemingly smooth stroke of some sort of cosmic wand, millions of people went from feeling secure and excited about retiring to being in fear of that same thing. I remember in the years before that, you couldn't watch television for an hour without seeing a commercial for some bank or investment company telling you that your time was running out. You must invest now. But in the grand scheme of things, we live what, maybe 20-25 years in retirement if we're lucky? I understand, trust me, that we need to save. And we all want to be at least moderately comfortable when our working days are finally done. But when you consider the amount of time that will be spent in retirement and compare that to eternity, don't you wonder if we're worried about the wrong things?

To "save time" and "spend time" may not be literally possible as with money, but you can use your time wisely to prepare yourself for eternity. That's an investment worth saving for.

Peace,

Mike