MARCH 16.2012
You Fool!
Read: Luke 12:16-21
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” —Psalm 14:1
It seems to me rather contradictory that Jesus, who was so gentle at times (Matt. 19:13-15), would call some people fools. Yet, as
recorded in the Gospels a number of times, our Lord used this derogatory term to describe those He spoke about—especially
the Pharisees (see Matt. 23:17-19; Luke 11:39-40).
Jesus also used the word fool in a parable after warning a
man about coveting (Luke 12:13-21). What made him foolish is
not the fact that he built bigger barns to store his abundant
harvest (vv.16-18). It would have been more foolish of him to
leave it out in the fields where inclement weather would spoil it.
Nor was he foolish because of his thought that this unexpected
windfall was enough to last him a long time (v.19). After all,
we are urged to follow the example of the ant in “storing up”
the harvest (Prov. 6:6-8).
What made the man foolish? He left God out of the picture.
He was called a fool because he failed to realize that his life
was in God’s hands. While he was planning carefully for his
comfortable life on earth, he failed to plan for eternity and
store up treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20).
Does your plan for the future have God in it? You won’t
want to be called foolish by Him in the end.
Oh, why not turn while yet you may;
Too late, it soon will be—
A glorious life you may possess
Throughout eternity. —Anon.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain
what he cannot lose. —Jim Elliot
Source: Our Daily Bread 2012
