Luke 12:16-21 “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Text Luke 12:17 “And he thought within himself”

Have you discovered that your thought life affects every other area of your life? God’s Word said, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). The problem with the rich man in the parable is not that he was not thinking, but that he was not thinking straight. The word “thought” means to reckon on thoroughly, to deliberate, to reason. This man makes three obvious mistakes! There was the source of his thinking, “thought within himself.” This man never sought council outside the boundaries of his own intellect! He turned a deaf ear to the council of the Scriptures, the Spirit, the Sovereign, and the saints. The Word of God said, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). There is the season of his thinking, “take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (vs.19). He had a temporal and not an eternal view of life. The boundaries of his thought life were confined to this present world with no thought of tomorrow. There is the subject of his thinking, “goods laid up for many years” (vs.19). The boundaries of his thought life was sensual and not spiritual. Life consisted of earthly goods with no thought of an Eternal God. Jesus said, “The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment” (vs.23). While the rich man may have been thinking, he was not thinking straight! Having found himself in the presence of God, the rich man discovered that “I thought” is a no excuse!