[Jesus said,] “Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be.” (Luke 12:15, GNT)
Parable of the Rich Fool
Read the parable of the rich fool, Luke 12:13-21. Jesus tells the story of the man who has such a surplus of his harvest that he builds bigger barns and decides to retire! But he dies unexpectedly, and so Jesus cautions us not to neglect being rich toward God. The story connects to the next teaching (Luke 12:22-34) focused on “treasures in heaven” instead of material gain.
The Comfort of Money
Some of us find solace in money and possessions for honest reasons: we went through times when we didn’t have enough! If you’ve survived some kind of financial crisis, you truly feel the pain of not having enough. We feel much happier when we have enough money in the bank and nice things at hand.
The Temptation of A-Little-More
On the other hand, there is a subtle temptation to always feel dissatisfied with what we have, to think we’ll be happier if we have just a little more. For years, I had the habit of wishing that we had more take-home pay, yet with each pay-raise and with each job advancement, I still had the old feelings of insecurity. Thus Jesus cautions us not to be so anxious (Luke 12:22-23), and not to let our insecurity turn into covetousness (12:15).
The Temptation of Abundance
The rich fool took these temptations a little further. He no longer felt insecure, but instead he felt inappropriately proud of his abundance. Luke’s gospel frequently reminds us to be mindful of the poor (e.g., 12:32), and this rich man certainly had no vision of helping anyone. He had his mind on bigger and better storage for his surplus.
In his book Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life (Upper Room, 2003) Robert Corin Morris relates a story (originally from Jane Goodall) about a group of chimps. A large shipment of bananas arrived, but the chimps, which are naturally cooperative in food gathering, became frenzied at the abundance, hurting one another, and fighting with an alpha male that had taken over the pile (p. 140). That’s the temptation of abundance: we want more; we are dissatisfied, and we worry about our own well-being.
Trusting God
It isn’t always easy to trust God, especially when things are not going well with us. But we are happier in the long run when we look to God in faith and trust, and when we have concern and empathy for those in need. When we turn over our financial anxieties to God’s help, we may discover new blessings as time goes by. We may discover that we can give more than we thought we could. Through our living, we discover how God helps us through varieties of situations.
by Dr. Paul Stroble
Paul blogs at paulstroble.wordpress.com and paulstroble.blogspot.com. You can find his many books about faith and the Bible at amazon.com.
A passionate reader, I began writing as a young girl. After graduating from college, I became a teacher. Over the course of my career, I taught high schoolers, college undergraduates, and public school teachers how to write personal narratives, expository and persuasive essays, as well as poetry and short fiction. I continued to write: publishing professional articles, two textbooks, short stories, and poetry. In 2013, I won first place in Romantic Suspense in the ACFW Genesis Contest.
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