November 15, 2018
Last night we spent our time in the scriptures looking at Luke 12:13-21 in which Jesus tells the Parable of the Rich Fool to a crowd of people. The parable starts off with Jesus warning the people to “take care, and be on you guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” From there, Jesus goes on to tell the familiar story of a rich man who tore down his barns and replaced them with bigger ones to store his excess crop. Just when the rich man thought that he would be set for life, he died, leaving all his wealth behind.
We talked for a long time about greed, and how it’s incredibly prevalent in our culture today. We’re constantly surrounded by consumeristic commercials, and attitudes, making it hard to do what Jesus makes it very clear: store up our treasures in heaven. We talked about how, for students, greed and selfishness much of the time comes in the form of how we talk, and what we dream about. In the parable, we see that the rich man says “I” and “me” about 11 times, meaning that he was inward focused, not looking out for how he could serve others with his wealth. In the same way, our speech says a lot about our heart. We talked in small groups about what it looks like to have eyes the are looking out at the needs of those around us, and eyes that are up looking at the will of God the Father, instead of focusing solely on our own two feet, and our own need.
My hope and desire is that our students would start building habits of selflessness and giving now, so that when they eventually go to college and beyond, they aren’t tempted to follow the worlds motto that says “fend for yourself, and love yourself first.”
I was glad to be in the scriptures with the students again. I hope and pray that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!
Categories: Youth Night Updates, Youth Parables