Principles are a good way to live your life. The Bible is full of them,
and they give us direction for living life. Once, Jesus was rudely interrupted
by an obnoxious man who demanded Jesus intervene on his behalf so he could get
his due portion of an inheritance. Jesus refused to be drawn into the
controversy and instead offered to him a principle about life. Jesus said,
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does
not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Jesus warns
against greed because it deprives us from ever knowing contentment. The
principle to remember is that life is about more than money—it’s about people
and God.
To illustrate the profound principle of purpose, Jesus told a parable
about a rich man. Jesus says he is a prosperous farmer. To be a successful
farmer you need things to come together for you. You need good weather, good
soil, good seed, a lot of hard work, and you need disaster to stay away. This
man had been fortunate, and he had prospered handsomely. He was blessed, but he
didn’t realize how blessed.
There is nothing wrong with expansion and prospering. What is wrong here
is the attitude. It’s all ego. The selfishness of the man is apparent. He is
not a generous man, and the needs of others are not a part of his thinking. He
is self-absorbed. Take note that God called him a fool. This is a fool indeed. This man was a fool because he did not
understand that life is fragile, and we need insight and understanding to
understand just how fragile it is. Life is short, and we need God’s perspective
to know it will be gone before we know it.
Life is a gift from God, and we are not the owners—God is. Life is for
eternity, and this is simply a journey, and our destination is heaven. We are
to invest in God’s Work and in people, and the interest that grows will be
greater than any financial dividend.
The British novelist and playwright David Lodge was watching one of his
own creations, a satirical revue, the evening of November 22, 1963. The theater
audience chuckled as an actor in the play showed up for a job interview with a
transistor radio clutched to his ear, demonstrating his character’s blasé
indifference. The actor then set down the radio and tuned to a station, letting
its news, music, or commercials play in the background while the play went on.
This night, however, a voice came on the radio with a live news bulletin:
“Today, the American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated…” The audience
gasped and the actor immediately switched off the radio, but too late. In one
sentence, the reality of the outside world had shattered the artificial world
of the theater production. Suddenly, whatever action took place onstage seemed
superficial and irrelevant.[i]
Jesus’ warning and parable are meant to break through our superficial
understanding and help us realize that there are more important things in this
life than possessions. Once we realize that, we will never want to go back to
that irrelevant way of life.
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