THE PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL – Part 3 of 3

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

In the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12) the man was keeping things to himself. Covetousness had conquered his heart. He was not generous, and he was not rich toward God.

If you haven’t noticed, the parable commends generosity. Why? Several reasons. First, it commends generosity for the simple reason that we can’t keep what we own. We can’t take it with us when we die…

Why else? Because generosity breaks the power of greed and frees our heart from covetousness. Holding our possessions tightly endangers our faith. It constantly temps us to transfer our trust from God to riches… The history of Israel, as seen in Deuteronomy 8, illustrates the truth of this. When Israel was blessed, it started to trust in blessings and not the giver of blessings… they forgot the Lord. They eventually pursued wealth as an end in itself. It became an idol. The longer and tighter you hold on to your possessions, the more covetous you get.

Why else does the parable commend generosity? Thirdly, because riches laid up in heaven are the most secure. They truly last.  D. L. Moody once met a wealthy farmer. Boasting, the farmer said, “Everything you can see for miles is mine. Look to the south. Look to the north. It’s all mine.” Moody pointed to heaven. “How much do you have in that direction?”

When we are rich toward God, what we have can never be taken away. 

-- Excerpted from “How to Finish the Christian Life: Following Jesus in the Second Half” by Donald W. Sweeting & George Sweeting

#6434

THE SECRET OF BEING CONTENT

“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”  (Philippians 4:10-13 NIV)

Because we lack a divine Center, our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things. We must clearly understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy. We buy things we do not want to impress people we do not like… Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry. 
 
-- Richard Foster in “Celebration of Discipline”

#5412

AN ATTEMPT AT QUARRELING

“Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognized as children of God.”  (Matthew 5:9)

There is a quaint story from the desert tradition about two monks who lived in the same cell. Their life was very peaceful, but one day, to be like other people, they decided to have a quarrel. What to quarrel about was the question.

One monk said, “I will take this brick, place it between us, and we can quarrel over who owns the brick.” The other monk agreed. It sounded like a good plan. So they sat on the ground facing each other, the brick in the middle.

The first monk said, “This is my brick.” The second monk replied, “No, I believe the brick belongs to me.” Whereupon the first monk retorted briskly, “It is not yours. It is mine!” The second monk replied, “Very well, if it is really yours, take it.”

This ended their attempt at quarreling. The moral of this story is that persons who have forsaken all to follow Christ are not grasping or quarrelsome.

This incident provides us with insight which many Christians in the first four centuries of the church believed crucial for a correct understanding of the Gospel.

-- Jerry Mercy in “Cry Joy!”


#4719

THE POWER OF ADVERTISING

The neglect of the spiritual cannot be laid directly at the door of advertising.  It may be better laid at the door of the church [that] has failed to preach the God of the Bible, heaven and hell, repentance, faith, and eternal life.  It can be argued that a society only gets the advertising it deserves.  Yet the power to commend certain patterns of spending behavior to millions with regularity is an open invitation to orchestrate the covetousness, envy, lust, and desire to dominate, which lie in the heart of sinful man.

-- Raymond Johnston in "The Power of the Media" in The Changing World

#3699