<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="job+21:1-9">Job 21:1-9</span></span></p><p>Before moving on, we pause to remind ourselves once more of the question with which the psalmist struggles in  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+73">Psalm 73</span>: Why is it that the wicked seem to prosper while the path of the righteous is beset by so many difficulties? Look now at how the psalmist views the condition of the ungodly: "They suffer no violent pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they smitten and plagued like other men. Therefore pride is about their neck as a chain; violence covers them as a garment - as a long, luxurious robe"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+73:4-6">Psalm 73:4-6</span>, Amplified Bible). What a graphic description this is of the person who has no time for God, yet goes on from day to day with few troubles. It is probably the most perfect picture in all literature of the so-called successful man of the world. Note that the psalmist begins his description of the ungodly with a reference to the way they die: "They suffer no violent pangs in their death." Throughout time the notion has been universally present that a good life ends in a good death, but the psalmist makes the observation that in his experience the reverse is true. Have you not struggled with these same feelings whenever you have heard of a Christian dying in great agony while a non-Christian passes away peacefully in his sleep? What do you do with those feelings? Ignore them? Deny them? Repress them? Remember, it is only exposed problems that can be resolved. I say again, if you are not willing to face a problem, how can you go about getting it resolved? </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O God, save me from denying the difficult problems and feelings I encounter in life. Help me understand that it is easier to deal with things when they are up and out than when they lie buried within. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="lu+12:15-21">Luke 12:15-21</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="lu+16:19-31">Luke 16:19-31</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+14:1">Psalm 14:1</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+53:1">Psalm 53:1</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+12:15">Proverbs 12:15</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is the danger of worldly prosperity?</li><li>How did Jesus draw the contrast in his parables?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?" (v. 7) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="lu+12:13-21">Luke 12:13-21</span></span></p><p>Why is it that so many in our day and age are attracted to the notion of a God who is impersonal? New Age theories seem to be infiltrating all parts of society in almost every country of the world. I think there is a very subtle reason why men and women prefer to think of God as a power rather than as a Person. If God is merely a power, or a formless life-force flowing through the universe, there are no demands - one is not challenged to relate to an energy in the same way that one is challenged to relate to a person. Immediately we believe God is a Person the next question we have to face is: How do I relate to Him? It is the idea of meeting a personal God which causes men and women to tremble. But deep down in every human heart, placed there by the Almighty, is a conviction that a personal God exists. We have all been made in His image and His stamp is upon us whether we like it or not. In reality there are very few atheists; most people believe in some kind of God. Someone has described an atheist as "a theologian with the jitters." A good way of dealing with those jitters is to expunge from the heart the idea that God may be personal and that one might be accountable to Him. Better a life-force or a celestial energy, a power that can be tapped rather than a Person one might some day have to meet. How foolish it all is - settling for short-term comfort but facing eternal loss.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, I am saddened when I realize how so many want to run from You when their best interests lie in running to You. I am glad that I have found You, but I long that others might find You too. Draw many to You this very day, dear Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+1:26-30">Genesis 1:26-30</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+5:1">Genesis 5:1</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1co+11:7">1 Corinthians 11:7</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="jas+3:9">James 3:9</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ec+3:11">Ecclesiastes 3:11</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are the implications of being created in God's image?</li><li>What has God set within us?</li></ul></div></div>

"But God said  'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.' " (v. 20) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+7:13-20">Matthew 7:13-20</span></span></p><p>Today we look at the special understanding the psalmist received when he came into the sanctuary of God: "Then I understood their final destiny"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+73:17">Psalm 73:17</span>). As soon as he considered the final destiny of the ungodly, everything dropped into focus for him. He had looked at the prosperity of the ungodly but he had not looked at their end - he had not taken in all the facts. What are the facts concerning the end of the ungodly? The passage we read today tells us: the broad road which the ungodly travel leads to destruction; the narrow road which the godly travel leads to life. It is as simple as that. Though this passage was not available to the psalmist, the truth underlying it was most certainly known to him. Listen to this from  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+37">Psalm 37</span>: "The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off" (v. 38, NKJ). The writer of that psalm, King David, described the wicked spreading themselves like a green tree, but when the end came they vanished off the face of the earth and no one could find them. The trouble with us is that so often we dwell too much on the present and fail to consider the future. Do you look at the ungodly, many of whom seem to be having a marvellous time ignoring moral restrictions, and feel envious of them? Well consider their end. Give some thought to the ultimate outcome. The Bible describes it as "destruction". We ought never to forget that it is not how things are at present that is important; it's how they end that matters. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, whenever I am next tempted to compare my life and its circumstances with that of others who do not know You, help me to remind myself of the fact that it is the end that matters, not the beginning. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="lu+12:15-21">Luke 12:15-21</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+12:15-16">Proverbs 12:15-16</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+28:6">Proverbs 28:6</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Jesus call the man in his parable?</li><li>What word keeps occurring in the parable?</li></ul></div></div>

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction " (v. 13) 

<p>A little with the Lord's blessing is enough. We ought not to be anxious about temporals; only let us be careful that the world is not a loser by us, and we need trouble no further. The Lord will give us enough if we are living by faith upon Him, and walking in communion with Him.</p><p class="mlr40 italic">We are all prone to be covetous, and it is a fearful sin. <br> Covetousness is idolatry. It steals the heart from God, and sets it upon base and sordid things. It prevents our enjoying either temporal or spiritual blessings. A covetous man must be miserable, must be unholy, must be lost for ever; well may our dear Lord say, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness."</p><p>It is sly and insinuating, it is deceitful and powerful; and if it once becomes rooted in the heart, nothing but omnipotent grace can root it out. Covet only the best gifts, spiritual blessings.</p><p class="mlr40 italic">Great things we are not here to crave,<br> But if we food and raiment have,<br> Should learn to be therewith content;<br> Into the world we nothing brought,<br> Nor can we carry from it aught;<br> Then walk the way your Master went.</p>

Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.

The Believer's Daily Remembrancer

Take heed, and beware of covetousness - Luke 12:15

<p>Our Lord calls special attention to the danger by a special admonition. Out of that little band that accompanied him, one made shipwreck on this rock. The whole life of Jesus was cast into a mould of uttermost hostility to it; and the effect was seen in the Pentecostal Church, where no man called anything his own. But we are fallen upon very different times; and neither the example nor the earnest warnings of Christ and his apostles, have power to keep down this spirit in the Church. If the token of a pure Church is its freedom from covetousness. then is the Church of our day corrupt in deed. The parable spoken In immediate connection with these words, shows that our Lord understands by covetousness, the laying up of much goods for many years, and rejoicing in that provision. The man described in the parable did not, that we are told, practice extortion or commit frauds in order to be rich; but being, in the providence of God, made rich beyond all his present wants, chose rather to consider his own future possible wants, and make provision for them, than to alleviate the actual wants of the poor around about him. He was unwilling to relinquish money that he did not now want, because a time might come when he would want it. </p><p>The Church has utterly discarded the idea that there is any thing in the word of God to hinder her from seeking any amount of wealth. There are thousands and tens of thousands of Christians, whose consciences would take alarm at once, at the presence of sin in other forms, who are deterred by no manner of scruple from embarking with all their heart in the endeavor to accumulate wealth far beyond any actual and even probable wants. " They pull down their barns and build greater," without a single ominous reflection coming to remind them of the poor, in whose barns there is nothing. </p><p>How shall a man beware of covetousness? Let him learn to look upon the things of others, to occupy himself more with the greater wants of others than with his own lesser wants, to know himself as simply a steward of the goods of God, and to shrink far more from being written down in the estimation of heaven " a fool," than in the estimation of earth. Had the man in the parable pursued any other course than he did,men would have said unto him, "thou fool;"  but how infinitely more dreadful to hear it from God.  Let the Christian know where his true wealth is; and trust God with his future wants. Has faith nothing to do with temporal matters? Who can say it that ever read the word of God? </p>

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

"Take heed, and beware of covetousness." - Luke 12:15. 

<p>A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. § Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble. § Godliness with contentment is great gain … Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.<br><br>Give me neither poverty nor riches—feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God. § Give us this day our daily bread. Do not worry 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? § “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” § Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">15 </sup>Then he said to them, <woj>“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”  </woj> </span></p>

Then he said to them, <woj>“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”<cr>1</cr> </woj>

Luke 12:15

 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

<p><span class="bible-text ">Then he said to them, <woj>“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”  </woj> </span></p>

 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”  

Bible Verse of the Day

December 4, 2024

Luke 12:15 NIV

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