Me, Myself, and I

16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18 Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' (Luke 12:16-19)

In response to a request to settle an inheritance dispute Jesus told the story of a rich land owner. The man's crops had done so well that he didn't have enough storage to hold it all. The man consults with himself, decides to keep it all for himself, approves his own plan, and pats himself on the back for being so clever. It would be easy to take this story as a condemnation of saving and planning for the future, or being rich. But the problem is not with what the man has, but what he chooses to do with it and where his focus is placed. Himself. Only. He does not consider what God might ask of him, or how he might bless others - like the workers who harvested his crop, those who would tear down and built his barns. So God issues what seems to be a stern penalty - the inability to enjoy any of the fruit of his labor.

20 But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." (Luke 12:20-21)

In reality, this is less a punishment and more a revelation that we have no control over life and death. The future, even the next moment, is not ours to know. But we do know that we'll take no material possessions from this life into the next. We are not discouraged from being materially rich, but from putting our hope or security in those things. We are, instead, encouraged to be "rich toward God". Placing our hope and security in God frees us to hold our possessions loosely - using them to bless others by creating justice through acts of generosity, grace, and mercy.

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4)