I’m not the only one who has to make room for my Christmas treasures, am I?

While cleaning out stuff so I could put the kids’ gifts away, this question popped into my head:

“Have you any room?”

I totally get that the “No room at the Inn” time has come and gone–A.K.A. Christmas. It swept out of here and off the radar faster than you can say “April Showers.” (P.S. Come o-o-on Spring!)

BUT.

That won’t stop me from talking about it.

The Season of Giving is ALWAYS

Luke 12:16-17

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’

The parable of the rich man reminds me of one HUGE thing… I’m rich. You’re probably rich, too–especially if you don’t have room in your house for the new gifts that walked through your door this Christmas.

And what is the rich man’s thinking?

“OHHHH what shall I do? I have so much STUFF and I need more room to stuff my STUFF!”

So what does he do?

And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” Luke 12:18-19

“I will do this,” he says.

The rich man’s biggest worry wasn’t having room for his stuff. Nope. His big problemo was not consulting God what to do in his abundance, and he didn’t even take time to thank God for the abundance in the first place.

The rich man didn’t have room for God in his thoughts, let alone his life.

Does this happen to us?

Do we acknowledge God for His goodness to us?

Do we have room in our hearts and minds to be mindful of Him?

Let’s Back Up a Minute

Christmas was practically yesterday.

The reason God lowered Himself to become a baby in a manger was to become the Savior for His people.

Every minute of everyday, we are people in need of a Savior. All the way to eternity and back. When we don’t have room for the only gift we really need at Christmas, we’ll likely have no room to acknowledge God’s graciousness to us in all the other gifts He hands us–just like the rich man.

The rich man’s focus was on the stuff rather than the giver of the stuff.

But, here was the Giver’s response:

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:20-21

Woah. This question leaps out of those letters–

“…the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

All the plans we make and the possessions we store up will be completely worthless to us one day. Merely being “rich” is not what is most important, but instead being “rich toward God.”

God enriches my life at all times. Period. Anything of value I have comes from God, therefore HE is the value of my life.

No Room To Talk

As I “make room” for my new stuff, I am looking to God as the giver of that stuff–but that’s not all–I’m making room for Him.

Room for God in my Decisions

Room for God in my Desires

Room for God in my Daily Living

Let’s set out this New Year turning our thoughts God-ward. Reflect on His giving nature. He is the “rich” One and He gives more than any other living soul.

And as receivers of His goodness, we should spread that goodness so far and wide, that others need to make room to contain it!