Luke 12:12–21

¹²The Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

The Story of the Rich Man

¹³Someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “tell my brother to divide the family property with me.”

¹⁴Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge or umpire between you?”

¹⁵Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against wanting to have more and more things. Life is not made up of how much a person has.”

¹⁶Then Jesus told them a story. He said, “A certain rich man’s land produced a good crop. ¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have any place to store my crops.’

¹⁸“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my storerooms and build bigger ones. I will store all my grain and my other things in them. ¹⁹I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things stored away for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink and have a good time.” ’

²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You foolish man! This very night I will take your life away from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹“That is how it will be for anyone who stores things away for himself but is not rich in God’s eyes.”