I started talking about greed, gratitude, and generosity on Monday.

I talked about the story Jesus told about a guy with surplus on Tuesday.

Today, we’re finishing the story.

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The man thought that the point of life was accumulating stuff. The more stuff, the better life.

Let’s go back to the question. “What should we do with this?”

How could he think differently about it?

What if he didn’t use the word “my”?

He could say, “What shall I do? There is no place to store all this abundance from God because I already have full barns. God? What need did you see that can be met using the great harvest on these fields that I am the steward of?”

Who can I bless with my blessing? Who can I feed with my overflow? What voices can I share with the platform that I have?

What if my surplus is our supply?

What if that man had said, “how can I share this blessing so that all of us are blessed? So that the people who did the work on my land were blessed? So that the widow with no support system is cared for? “

What if we choose to invest in what God finds valuable?

Jesus later talks about this time after our death.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Jesus explains that anytime we offer this care for the least, we are offering the care to Jesus. The way to invest in what God finds valuable, to invest in God, is to take care of the least. To feed and cloth and visit and care for.

But where do we get the resources for all this? For the rich man, the answer would have been easy. You take the overflowing harvest and share it.

Perhaps that’s the answer for us.

Whatever our abundance is, to be generous.

Whenever we have more than we need, to be generous.

Whenever we have two, to share one. Whenever we know how to do something, to share knowledge rather than hoarding it.

To give what we can’t take with us.

Because that’s the heart of the story. God doesn’t say, “You are dying because of stuff.” He’s saying that more stuff doesn’t keep you from dying.

So, what do you want to invest in?