Week 29: Thursday, When God Calls You A Fool

We should be cautious about mocking anyone. Mockery is usually

hurtful. Belittling another person is just not a very nice thing to do!

(See Jesus’ warning about this in Matthew 5:22.)

Transcript

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Welcome to Hearing God's Stories, a daily devotional on the parables presented by the Jickens Institute.

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This is week 29, Thursday, the parable of the rich fool. When God calls you a fool. Our text today comes from Luke chapter 12, verses 16 through 21. Our author is Steve Lusk, and I'm Jeff Johnson. We should be cautious about mocking anyone. Mockery is usually hurtful. Belittling another person is just a not very nice thing to do. See Jesus warning about this in Matthew 5, 22. But Jesus told a parable about a man who is called a fool. 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've nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I'll 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 twelve, sixteen through twenty one from the English Standard Version. If calling another person a fool is a dangerous thing, why did God call the plentiful producer in this parable a fool? Isn't being productive a good thing? Isn't it wise to plan for an uncertain future? What's wrong with enjoying the fruit of one's labor? Jesus shares this parable to address the subject of greed. Greed is the selfish desire to have more. Selfishness says, I'm the only one that matters. Though the rich man in the parable had produced a bountiful harvest, he had forgotten one important thing. It is more important to cultivate a rich relationship with God than to cultivate an abundance of crops. At the end of his life, bigger barns and abundant crops didn't matter. Good harvest, come and go. This man was called a fool because he failed to consider what endures. Today, I will make the wise choice to maintain a right relationship with God in view of eternity.

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Thank you for joining us for the Living Word. For more encouragement and ministry resources, visit the Jingus Institute.com and may God's richest blessings be yours. It's our prayer for you.