The Rich Fool

Stephen Covey popularized the idea that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. When we miss point of life—when we neglect the main thing—we do so because other pursuits or priorities have clouded our perspective. We get distracted from the point of life because we prioritize money, or stuff, or comfort, or security or anything else above the main thing. 

In the story Jesus told about the “rich fool” in Luke 12:16-21, we hear about a man who planned his early retirement but missed the point of life. Instead of being “rich toward God” as Jesus was teaching, the foolish businessman was being rich toward himself. The rich fool was not seeking God’s kingdom first; he was building his own “little kingdom” so he could retire in luxury to eat, drink and be merry. Unfortunately for him, his early retirement only foreshadowed an early death. By telling the story, Jesus reminds us to first and foremost to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth. We are encouraged to defeat greed with generosity. We are reminded to not just be concerned about the physical and the temporary while forgetting about the spiritual and the eternal.

 

For Reflection

The story of the wealthy businessman tells us how NOT to define life. Too many people define it in terms of fame, material possessions, comfort, or security. This parable speaks loudly to our culture. Have you been defining your life by your career, your house, your stock portfolio, in terms of what you can do physically, or the assumption that you will live a long time? What do you treasure? Whenever you invest your time or money, it moves your heart toward that thing. What has your heart been moving toward?