Using or Loving?

 

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’”  And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.’”  Luke 12:16-21 When God calls someone a fool, that person is a fool. The person in this parable is a fool. This man is not a fool because he is rich, because wealth by itself has no power to do anything. He is a fool because of what he thought the wealth would deliver. To get to the point where this man was, one would have needed to work long and hard and make wise investments. Someone who works hard and long and makes wise investments has a goal for riches they have accumulated, and this man’s goal was to be free from all, and, in a sense, be his own god. He, in some ways, expresses the American Dream quite well. I wonder how many Americans God would call a fool. If He considers us a fool, we are indeed fools. Healthy people know that money is to be used, not loved. If we want God to bless America, we need to populate America with those who have a proper focus.