In today’s society we are constantly driven to accumulate more. The parable in Luke 12 of the rich fool is truly the parable of our times. We may not be greedy as that man in the parable to accumulate wealth, possessions and status, but perhaps at times we had placed our trust on material possessions or found security in a bank balance and sources of income. Let us also remember, that greed takes on different appearances in today’s context, it could be greed for more connections on social media.

Perhaps this may also sound bit unfair or unrealistic, given the daily basis. But the real challenge remains, in the midst of it all, do we hear God’s voice of assurance?

In the Gospel proclamation, Jesus assures us as He did his disci- ples by saying, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or about your body, what you will wear…consider the birds, who neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet they are fed by God.” How much more will Abba Father clothe and feed us, His children? When we lose sight of God’s presence, we lose sight of His miracles and wonders. The possibil- ities that are His and through Him to us His children, seem a distance away. We begin to see doom and gloom. This is when our hearts have begun to be hardened towards God and we stop hearing his voice.

When that happens, someone’s unkind words or actions provoke us to reject and not love them. When insecurity creeps in, we act from fear and mess things up and momentarily lose His vision for our lives and for others.
The Lord challenged me, I was serving Him but had neglected the basic command to love others as God loves me. I had stopped hearing His voice which first and foremost calls me to simply love above all else. Bro. Lalith once mentioned that we become rebellious when we stop hearing God’s voice. As the Psalm reminds us, “if today we hear his voice, let us not harden our hearts.”

St Paul exhorts, that we ought to seek the things above, laying aside evil desires, greed, anger, malice and slander, as we have been raised with Christ. Obviously, we cannot do this by our strength, only by His grace. How do we hear His voice? Jeremiah 29:13 shows how: when we search for God we will find Him, if we seek God with all our hearts, we begin to hear Him. At the end of our days, we will not be asked what our earthly treasures are, rather what spiritual riches we have accumulated.

Abba Father, soften our heart that we may hear your voice, be assured of your providence and find spiritual treasures in you. Amen.