“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores” (Luke 16:19-21)

If I were the devil, I would…. How would you end that statement? If you were the devil, what would you do to try to lead someone like you astray? The devil and his band of demons have the number one goal of doing whatever they can to lead you and me away from God and to spend an eternity in hell with them.

So what would you do? If I was the devil, I’d do what I could to lead you to look at the first part of this story Jesus told only with your eyes. In fact, I would try to get you to look at all of life with just your eyes. Why so? Here in this story you would just see this rich man on the outside and conclude that he has it all, the life you always wanted, that he was rich. You would also conclude that Lazarus was the poorest of the poor, that he had an absolutely miserable life. In fact, if this was all we knew, we’d all want to be the rich man. We’d all maybe sit in envy of the rich man and want to trade places with him.

But how does the story go on? It turns out that the rich man wasn’t a believer and so when he died he went to hell…forever. And Lazarus? He was a believer so he went to heaven…forever! So, who was really rich? Lazarus, the believer, may not have had an easy life, but he was rich, eternally rich, rich in God’s love, forgiveness, grace.

What about you? Do you look at life only with your eyes? Do you think real riches are earthly riches?

Look at life not just with your eyes but also with your ears and filter it through the Word of God. Real riches are spiritual riches. Real riches are God’s grace and forgiveness. Real riches are eternal riches. And with Christ, you are rich! Really rich! Eternally rich! And so, like Lazarus, you have all you need for you have all you need eternally.

Rich in Jesus, just like you,

pastor