The Bigger Barns Theory Series

Living is forGiving Part 1 The Bigger Barns Theory

Luke 12 13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. 16And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Volkswagen game. also known as "SlugBug".

Faded Yellow one – parked under carport behind Apt Bldg.

White– one parked in driveway off Mayfield. Moved behind house make way for another car, still see it between slats in fence.

Multiple shades of Green –back driveway just down street.

Faded Blue – 1/2 covered by frayed blue tarp, under carport. Rest of carport filled w/ other stuff. car that is driven parked in driveway.

Owner walk out back door, around old VW, miss kicking cinder blocks that are holding up the busted front axle, on his way to work.

Junk sitting around in our lives. we needed get rid of, but hanging on to, hoping we can polish up a little to make look better.

If we have just right place to store, or enough time to work on them, We think we controlling junk, but junk is controlling us.

For some of those things are material possessions –

Car, House, wardrobe, computer, furniture, collectable knicknacks,.

take up places in lives. focus on having them, or desire to have them. We spend money, time and emotional effort.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. - Luke 12:22-23

What we possess takes up room for what God wants to give us.

For others of us those things are mental attitudes –

"We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number; but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of his freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way." Viktor E. Frankl Man’s Search for meaning

"God. . . gives me freedom to acknowledge my negative attitudes before him but not freedom to act them out because they’re as destructive for me as they are for other person." Rebecca Manley Pippert (Out Of The Salt-Shaker & Into The World)

The mental attitudes - our choice. At any moment in life we have option to choose an attitude of gratitude, a posture of grace, a commitment to joy. But choice we make limits way God can move in our lives. We limit God by attitudes we park in our carports.

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God. And other people will approve of you, too. – Romans 14:17-18

Growl all day and you’ll feel dog tired at night. -- Anonymous

Others of us are holding on to grudges - Unforgiveness.

Way co-worker treated us. What spouse said other night. Something parents did. Sometime, somewhere, somehow we were hurt. And it still hurts.

Holding on to grudge like a 1962 VW Bug

going to be worth more every year we held on to it.

pull it out & look at it. relive days when new, & polish it up.

Think about getting rid of it, & then put tarp back on it, and

decide someday really need it, or have chance to do something w/ it. Never know when grudge / 62 faded blue VW bug w/ broken axle may come in handy.

Meanwhile, taking up space, & reminding us - what could have been.