Lovewell: A Theology - Day 26

Luke 12:33
33 “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it.

I love the book of Luke. If you haven’t read it in a while, you need to again soon. This text comes after Jesus has been teaching on money and possessions and the place they should have in our lives. It comes after that famous text when he tells us to look at the lilies of the field and to not worry about anything. How many of us actually live like that?

I have to tell you, it is a pretty difficult thing to try and get away from worrying about finances and the money that we make to live. While we often don’t have to worry about where our next meal is coming from, we do worry about retirement, the loans our kids might have to take to get through school, how they can purchase their first house, and things like that. I worry about my kids, what kind of world we are going to be leaving them. I worry about our country and its ability to stay together through political turmoil. I worry about your churches and if they can make it through difficult times. I worry about your lovewell groups and if they will grow, if they are loving well, and what we can do to support them. There is a lot to worry about in this life!

But Jesus constantly reminds us that it is not our job to worry. We have something more to think about. We have the opportunity to put our trust in heaven and to make sure that we are “storing our treasure” there.

I don’t know that I ever really understood this. I am not sure that I understand it right now. I think that it means we have to trust a lot more than we do. We have to trust that at the end of this  life that we are living there is this great thing called heaven where God is available to us, where we spend eternity, and where we see those who have gone before us. That is a lot to take in!

This concept of heaven has, at times, been used for us to use faith as simply an escape route from this earth. I get that, and I even resonate with that at times. However, this concept of heaven does not absolve us of the responsibility of taking care of those who have less and need what we have to give. You see how Jesus ended this pericope? He ended it with making sure that we knew we should take care of others rather than amassing wealth here on earth.

Interestingly, Today Jeff Bezos announced that he would be giving the majority of his 142 billion dollars to charity before he dies. He is not the first billionaire to do this. Maybe there is a point where you begin to realize that this life is not about what we amass, but about what we give away.

I love that Jesus reminds us that what is bound in heaven can never go bad, never decay, and never fall apart.

1. What do you spend your time amassing here on earth? 
2. How can you find a balance between what you gain and what you give away? 
3. How can you begin to understand what we are really amassing in heaven, and what that looks like? 
4. What does “you can’t take it with you” mean to you?