Using Jesus, Luke 12:13-15

"And one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And He said unto him, Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you? And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."

     Jesus had just finishes speaking of hypocrisy and hidden sin, saying that nothing hidden will not be exposed, and nothing done in secret will not be made known. He told the multitude that had gathered that they ought not fear man, but God, since man can do no more after you are dead but God can send you to hell. He expounded on the love of God, telling how even the very hairs on our heads are numbered, so what have we to fear of? We are of much worth to God. Jesus spoke of eternal matters, of deep and underlying issues of the heart, and of persecution and blasphemy. And the multitude did not seem to get it.
     A man in the crowd spoke up and asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide the family inheritance with him. This man, hearing Jesus teach on such important and lofty matters, no doubt thought in his heart, "The people listen to this man, and He has the answers about such deep matters as these; surely He can get my brother to listen to me and do what I want, to divide the inheritance." He heard Jesus, and thought of how he could use Jesus for his own personal gain. But Jesus would have none of it. He knew the man's heart.
     "Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?" He replied. Then He went on to warn the crowd of covetousness, saying that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions: Life is more than how much stuff you have. Jesus knew the man's heart, and thus He pinpointed the very sin the man was guilty of: covetousness. This man must have shrunk back into the crowd when Jesus started saying this. Not only was he not getting what he wanted, he was being called on his selfishness and greed.

     Do we, in our own walks with the Lord, ever fall into the sin of using Jesus for our own personal gain? Are we guilty of hearing Him speak to our hearts wonderful, spiritual things, and then turn around and ask Him for something completely selfish? Or perhaps it is not even as blatant as this. Maybe you are guilty of stepping over this line in the smallest sense of the idea, but nonetheless, still guilty.
     We can easily have a tendency to go through our Christian lives enjoying the blessings God has given and somehow wander into the area of enjoying the blessings and focusing on the blessings and neglecting the One who as blessed us: Jesus Christ. We can focus on fellowship, we can focus on going to church and serving. We can even focus on reading the word, and yet neglect prayer and communication with God.
     In my own life, recently, I have found that I have been guilty of depending on fellowship with other Christians moreso than on God-- When I was down, I would desire to talk with my Christian friends, and when I was happy, the same. I would desire to share my triumphs and my sorrows, my troubles and my joys with them. And I sought their prayers for me, interceding on my behalf. I sat and studied the word with them. And such things should happen, we should have close fellowship with one another.
     But something was off, even if ever-so-slightly. Something was amiss. I could tell. There was an element of joy missing. Though someone had given their life to the Lord, I did not find myself rejoicing in the same manner as they. Though we had an awesome time in the word, I did not gain as much from it as I would have liked to. I just felt... off. And the Lord showed me that it was that I had neglected prayer: Not that I had not been praying, but that I had spent far more time thinking, pondering, and weighing out situations than praying. My first thought was to share what was happening in my life with my friends instead of praising God in prayer. And I suffered for this-- I felt so out of it that it was hard to focus in Bible studies, it was hard to focus in worship, it was hard to focus in prayer.
     But God, in His infinite mercy, called me back. We cannot allow ourselves to accept even fellowship of on-fire Christians to be a substitute (even an unintended subsititute) for fellowship with God. It is by spending time alone with Him in prayer and in the word that we grow closer to Him, though fellowship is a wonderful and crucially important aspect of our walks with the Lord. We can't allow ourselves to use Jesus to make friends, it simply isn't right, and the Lord will call us on it and expose our sin-- for our own benefit.