When a disaster strikes people begin to look at their lives in a different perspective. The earth quake in Haiti has seen this. We begin to count our blessings and see what is really important. Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Several times people have expressed that “I have lost everything, but I am still alive.” Morris Womack “The search for meaning in life is all too often tied up in the worldly possessions.” “Almost everything you have can be taken away from you; only that which is within you is secure.” Our hope in Christ, our faith, the way we manage our lives, how we view what we have are all great determinants of what life is really about for each of us.
In Luke 12 Jesus tells the story of the "Rich Fool." As he is teaching he is interuppted by a man wanting Jesus to mediate an inheritance dispute between brothers. Jesus has no desire to be involved in this. He knows the real problem between these brothers is greed and no answer he can give will cure that.
He tells the story about a man who has a great harvest and needs to build more barns to hold all his crop.Then he can take it easy and just relax. However, he does not know that he will die later that night and will not be able to enjoy his wealth. Jesus ask the question, "Who gets all this stuff now" (Obviously my translation).
Because he was unprepared Christ calls him a fool, and he was. When you read this story ask yourself these questions. The answer will let you know whether or not you are a fool as well.
How do you respond to the wealthy farmer’s dilemma? Here was a man who had a problem with too much wealth! If we say, “I certainly wish I had that problem!” we may be revealing covetousness in our hearts. If suddenly you inherited a great deal of wealth, would it create a problem for you? Or would you simply praise God and ask Him what He wanted you to do with it?
How do you respond to the decisions of the rich man? Are you saying, “Now that is shrewd business! Save and have it ready for the future!” But Jesus saw selfishness in all that this man did (note the eleven personal pronouns), and He said the man was a fool. The world’s philosophy is “Take care of Number One!” But Jesus does not endorse that philosophy.
How do you respond to the farmer’s desires? Are you saying, “This is the life! The man has success, satisfaction, and security! What more could he want?” But Jesus did not see this farmer enjoying life; He saw him facing death! Wealth cannot keep us alive when our time comes to die, nor can it buy back the opportunities we missed while we were thinking of ourselves and ignoring God and others.
Finally, how do you respond to the death of the boastful farmer? We are prone to say, “Too bad this fellow died just when he had everything going for him! How tragic that he could not finish his great plans.” But the greatest tragedy is not what the man left behind but what lay before him: eternity without God! The man lived without God and died without God, and his wealth was but an incident in his life. God is not impressed with our money.
ARE YOU A FOOL?
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