Luke 12:13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “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?’ 21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

God created the universe and man lives using everything created by God. So man should give thanks to God for his grace. But man does not know that he is living using everything made by God. Not knowing this is sin, and sin leads to death. Man cannot escape going to hell for his sin.

But God does not want man to go to hell, so the Word became flesh and God sent his only begotten Son to this world. He would save man from his sin. But man ignores God and lives only to satisfy the desires of sinful nature. It is like the times of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah, when people were living in sin. Those who win will die and go to hell where they will suffer pain forever without rest. The eternal punishment in hell is more than man can bear (Matthew 3:1-2, 6-10, John 8:44).

God saves all those who repent by the blood of Jesus. They are saved from sin, death and hell by God's grace. It is impossible to describe the joy of living in heaven forever.

There are two roads – one to heaven and one to hell. The way to hell is that of eternal destruction, so do not be fooled by the devil, Satan and demons. People who follow the lust of the flesh, money, fame and power will all end up going to hell after they die.

But the way to heaven and obedience to the Word of God is relying on the blood of Jesus on the cross. We should pray, praise God, be obedient and serve each other. We whould live giving thanks for God's grace of salvation so that we can live in heaven forever.

Do not envy those who are rich in this world (Luke 16:19). We should not live according to the standards of the world. God will judge each one of us according to how we have lived, whther we have lived according to his will.

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23

At the Day of Judgement we will all stand before God and give an account of how we have lived. Those who lived according to God's Word and repented from their sin will stand next to God. While those who followed the ways of the devil will stand with the devil and they will be destroyed along with him. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41.

But man is unaware that those who do not have real faith will be judged by God at the Last Judgement. Let's end this year with the Word of God and let's resolve to live according to God's standards in the new year. Let's thank God for the grace of having one more year.

Dear brothers and sisters, our lives pass so quickly even though we want to stay in this world longer. We should live according to the Word of God so that we can live in heaven forever...

2012.12.29