Keeping Pace or Keeping Peace

Today's Reading

Luke 12:16–21
Parable of the rich man who stores up grain

No matter what you’re tempted to compare, there will always be someone with more than you, and there will always be someone with less. Whether you compare husbands or hair, there will always be someone else to envy and someone envying you.

So you have a choice: either keep pace or keep peace.

Comparison will tempt you to keep pace, to accumulate more. But the parable in today’s reading illustrates that accumulating more is a worthless pursuit if what you’re accumulating isn’t put to good use for God’s purposes. The wise choice is peace with what God has entrusted to you.

In some areas, he’s given you more than others—maybe you’re a talented singer or gifted writer. In other ways, you may come up short—perhaps you had a challenging childhood or disappointing marriage. But God doesn’t ask you to change what you’ve been given. He asks you to use what you’ve been given.

Whether a lot or a little, what you have is less important than what you do with what you have.

TRY THIS: We all have a surplus of something. Brainstorm one area in which God has given you a surplus and commit to one thing you can do today to better use it for him.