To some degree, after yesterday’s devotion about good stewardship, I would think that you might have come away wondering about being prepared for the future and whether that’s something that God would have us do. And, although we are called to use all that God gives us for His glorification, does that mean that we should not prepare for the future? As usual, to find the answer to this question we have to go to the scriptures.

In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus Himself tells us the Parable of the rich fool. “And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

If we are not careful in our reading of this, we might say, that this means that God does not desire that we should prepare for the future. This verse is not about being prepared for the future, it is about a man who is storing up for himself, with no regard for God or those around him in need and in fact making himself his own god.

Have you ever heard about someone who lived like a pauper and yet when they died they left a fortune to their cat, or some organization or something? That is similar to King Solomon who, although he didn’t horde it, had obscene amounts of wealth and he said this of all that he had worked for…”I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.” Ecclesiastes 2:18. He wasn’t using it for eternal purposes, he was using it for his own selfish pleasures and was now regretting leaving the spoils of all that work to someone else.

The successful Farmer, the person who lived like a pauper and King Solomon all had something in common, they were storing up for themselves.

Please understand, it is not a bad thing to prepare, Jesus Himself prepares (“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:3). God prepared (For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand for us to do. Ephesians 2:10).

We are told to prepare, our minds, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:13; to tell others about Jesus “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15”; for Jesus return “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” Matthew 24:42.

Preparation becomes a sin when we stop having faith that God will provide (Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:25-26). It becomes sin when we use it to rely on ourselves and not God. (Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5). It is sinful when it becomes about having more stuff or more money or more envy from the world. (“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21). It is a sin when we preparing to make accommodations for ourselves and not for God and His plans.

Where the future is concerned, God has probably provided us with jobs that have a retirement plan for our future. How much more do we need? If He has provided excess, above and beyond our needs, How much more do we need? We need to be very careful that if we are preparing/storing up, that it is for Him that we are doing it and not for ourselves.

I pray that today we would examine all that God has given us. I pray that we would pray about all that He desires from us. I pray that we would ask Him to make us good stewards of all that we have and that He would use it for His will and purposes. I pray that we would trust Him, rely on Him and thank Him for His bountiful provisions. And the only things that I pray we would hunger for are more of Him, His word and being used by Him.

If you have never examined all of the good things in your life and questioned where they come from, I pray that you would realize in this very moment that they are from God in Heaven who desires a relationship with you, personally. I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver Page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Once you have, please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-n-Loved.com and let me know so that I can be in prayer for you and hopefully, help you grow in your knowledge of and relationship with our Precious Savior Jesus Christ.

Luv Ya!