THINK TOGETHER.
What is your most valuable possession?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 27:23-24. 23Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, 24for riches do not last forever;
There are all kinds of warnings in the Bible about riches, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. You are growing up in a world that is very rich. I know it might not seem like it, but it’s true. If you are alive today, you are way richer than most of the people throughout most of history. If you live in America today, you live in one of the richest countries on Earth. Your family probably lives in a house, with cars, and clothes, food, and toys, games, and sports equipment.
Solomon’s warning for us today is that riches do not last forever. He says know the condition of your flocks. What does that mean? Well, back then many people were shepherds with flocks of sheep. If there was a rich shepherd who had lots and lots of sheep, he might stop paying attention to them all. He might even hire people to help with his sheep who don’t care about them. These “hirelings” don’t pay attention to the herd of sheep like they should.
There are a couple of lessons here for us. First, always take care of what God has given to you. Do you have a flock of sheep? Probably not. But do you have other riches that God has allowed you to have? Yes. Do you pay attention to them? Do you take care of them? Do you leave things out in the yard, or lose them easily?
Second, never be smug about your riches. Never brag about your things. Why? Because not only does it all come from God as a gift, but also things don’t last forever. Riches do not last forever. Only God and those who trust God last forever. Only Jesus and those who trust in Jesus last forever. Our things are important, but not most important. Jesus is.
So take care of your things and also share your things. And brag about Jesus.
Because of Jesus we can live forever.
With Jesus we can take care of our things and share our things.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Plan a time to go through your child’s things (toys, clothes, etc. WITH them). Are heir things being taken care of? Is there anything they can donate or share with others?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you are most important to me. Let everything else be second place. Amen.
TLICfamily 