It’s natural to picture ourselves asking Jesus for help with our problems, given His wisdom and kindness. This is exactly what happened when two family members faced a conflict, and one of them turned to Jesus for guidance.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me” (Luke 12.13).
My father once tried to resolve a dispute between two conflicting parties. When he came home that evening, he told the family, “I must have done a good job because they all left angry.”
I imagine that might be similar to how the two opposing parties in this illustration reacted to Jesus’ statement.
But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”
And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12.14-15).
Once again, Jesus addressed a question that has occupied the minds of many people, both in His time and today: “What about my possessions?”
His message was clear—avoid greed, because your life is not defined by the amount of stuff you own or the size of your bank account.
The Parable of the Rich Fool
To put a fine point on what He said, Jesus told the audience a parable.
“The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry'” (Luke 12.16-19).
The rich man had a well-thought-out retirement plan. He had been highly productive, accumulated wealth, and was now prepared to relax and enjoy a comfortable life in retirement.
In today’s YouTube video, Bruce Kirby observes that we often feel as though we never have enough. Even if we accumulate more money than we could ever spend, we still crave more.
This mindset may reflect the sentiment behind the parable Jesus told about the rich man.
If this man lived today, the extent of his wealth would likely propel him onto social media, where he would showcase his immense fortune and the ingenuity that helped him achieve it.
Jesus held a different opinion of this man and emphasized it as the concluding point of the parable.
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
“So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God” (Luke 12.20-21).
Let’s remember that Jesus warned us to “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12.15).
If the good life is defined by who has the most toys by the time they die, then the rich man made a wise deal.
However, if the good life is about living in a relationship with God and using His blessings to serve and uplift others, then following the rich man’s example makes us a fool.
What to do?
Richard Foster offers, in my opinion, an excellent perspective on the use of wealth.
He does not suggest giving everything away to an organization, as that would transfer the responsibility of managing what God has entrusted to us into the hands of others.
Instead, he recommends prayerfully placing our possessions in God’s hands and seeking His guidance on how to use them.
By doing so, we discover that life is not defined by possessions but by faithfully following God’s direction for our lives.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 