The Rich Fool

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  1 Timothy 6:10

One of the things I struggle with is money.  It is easy to fall into the trap of money.  When we start depending on it to sustain us we lose.  If I love money and pursue making it above everything else, I lose sight of what is important. 

God gives us everything we have in life including money.  How we handle this one thing can shape us into someone more like God or less like Him.  Remember the Parable of the Rich Fool.  The rich man had crops that yielded more than he could use.  He had so much that he didn’t have room in his barns for all of it so he decided he would tear down his barns and build bigger barns. The rich man said to himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink and be merry.  But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?”

How many of us are using the money God gave us to store up wealth for our retirement years like the rich man.  He had more than he would ever need and instead of giving it to someone less fortunate than himself; he decided to build bigger barns.  God wants us to use our money wisely.  There are several things we can do to gain the right perspective about money.

1.     Don’t love your money.  God should be number one in your life.  He tells us we can’t serve both God and money.

2.     Don’t waste your money.  Since everything I have belongs to God; I should be careful with it.  I should spend it carefully and wisely.

3.     Don’t trust your money.  If we place our trust in our money it can all be taken away from us in an instant.  If you look back in history to the Great Depression of 1929-1939 you can see why we shouldn’t trust money.  The stock market crash wiped out millions of investors.  During that time there were 22 suicides per 100,000 people.

4.     Don’t expect your money to satisfy or make you happy.  How many of us purchase things because we think they will make us happy and then a short time later are in pursuit of something else because that temporary happiness didn’t last.  

In Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I struggle often with my thoughts about money.  I fall into the trap of believing that since I worked for it; it is mine to do with as I please.  Remind me that everything I have is given to me from You.  I think some of my misunderstanding comes from properly understanding what my “needs” really are.  Many times what I spend money on are not things I need; they are things I want.  Help me to look at money in the proper way and glorify You with my use of it. 

        

Scripture: The Parable of the Rich Fool

Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21