The most miserable sin of self justification, is a sin we all contend with.  Continually attempting to explain why we do the things we do (even alone in our minds) does not “sit well” with our Sovereign Creator.  Oh – to be free of this flesh and with the Lord for ever . . .

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Proverbs 11:28

 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; 

At right you see the Parable of the Rich Fool aptly portrayed. 

Luke 12:19-21

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

²⁰ But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

²¹ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

The Lord in no way states that material possessions and riches are wrong.  The issue at hand, is where we put our trust.  Many Christians have fallen into the general hype of “hoarding.”  It is interesting to note, that some of the super-stars of television’s “Extreme Couponing,” are professing Christians, one even a youth pastor!  There are dozens of conservative news sites which have their own brand of food storage systems, and right leaning financial advisers beat the drum of buying gold and silver – from them – of course.

There is NOTHING wrong with stockpiling.  Nothing.  Joseph wisely stored food against the prophetically revealed famine.  But we must never, never trust in food stores or caches of precious metals to save us.  Our faith is not ever to be in anything of this world.  If we are walking closely to Jesus – all of these things will grow dimmer and dimmer as we mature in Christ.  We will not fear anything that “might” happen in the future – simply because we already know our future…

Together with the LORD in eternity. 

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but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. 

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Looks good!  That is how we appear (metaphorically speaking) when we allow the righteousness of Christ to rule in our hearts.    Every truly born-again believer possesses the righteousness of Christ – and is completely capable of bearing much fruit.  The child of God may require a great deal of pruning in order to bear prolifically.  This is chastening from a Father to a son.  Praise Him for it.  Take it and learn of Him.  Is your trust in your IRA, or a basement full of freeze-dried food stores?  Or is your trust in Him alone?

Jeremiah 17:7-8

⁷ Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

⁸ For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Keeping our hearts and minds on the Lord becomes easier the more we read the Word, fellowship with other believers, and turn from the world.  In a sense, we need to repent of the world every moment of every day – because we are living in it while being housed in very weak flesh.  To put it in perspective, we are not unlike sailors long at sea – being lured to their deaths by the call imaginary sirens among jagged rocks.  Or a thirsty soul in the desert – seeing a mirage and swallowing mouthfuls of sand instead of water.   What the world presents to us – is a trick of the devil.  It has the appearance of something we are convinced that  we need – but will in reality – only destroy us.  It is of utmost importance to spread the Gospel.  It is of very small importance to stockpile food and gold.

sage