Getting Ready To Leave? Or, Getting Ready To Stay? Part 2

(for part 1 see 8/7/25)

God will put people of like character into the same lot together and bring them into judgment. In Luke’s version of Jesus’ ministry, he accounts for numerous parables that Jesus used to illustrate Divine principles. It is interesting how Jesus used the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to characterize the life of a believer and an unbeliever.

Luke 16:19, “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day...”

The rich man represents an unbeliever. Not that a person has to be poor or lack possessions and money to be a believer, but that the rich man allowed his possessions to stand between himself and God. The rich man had fine things, ie, purple and fine linen, and had a lavish lifestyle (fared sumptuously). However, it was not the things that he possessed that hindered his relationship with God, but the mindset that possessed him. For him, life was one continual party, and evidently, he gave no thought to the needs of others.

What is the mindset of a rich man? Jesus gives us an example in Luke 12:16, “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 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.” Life, at its best, is short. Our focus should be on completing the assignment God has given to us as His servants. (continued)