You know this person. We all do.
No matter the conversation, they always steer the topic back to themselves. It’s predictable. Annoying. Sad.
Jesus told the parable of one such person: the rich farmer. In the all-too-familiar story, the farmer uses a bumper crop to bump God out of the spotlight. The high yield came from the soil, but the farmer takes the credit. “What shall I do?” he asks. “I have no place to store my crops.” (Luke 12:17, NIV)
With God checked into the shadows, the rich farmer famously plans to tear down his perfectly fine barns and build massive, state-of-the-art ones in their place. He smugly dreams about when he’ll “have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat drink and be merry.” (Luke 12:19, NIV)
Truth is, we’re all this person, too. We’re prone to making everything about ourselves — our accomplishments, our family, our wealth.
But Jesus turns our living upside down and even redefines wealth. True wealth is making everything about God in the first place, instead of ourselves.
For the farmer, this still could have meant building bigger barns – but only because he dreamed about fun ways to pay forward God’s blessing.
What does a life lived richly toward God mean for you? A good way to begin is by answering this simple question: How might Jesus want me to honor God with my abundance?
One way or another, your answer will show who’s in the spotlight of your living.
